For some brands, it spawns from one ill-timed mistake. For others, controversy is at the very root of the operation. These are just a handful of the past decade’s biggest beauty controversies, ranked from least to most damaging. Shortly after, makeup artist Kevin James Bennett shared his negative experiences with founder Zena Shteysel, whom he says tried to pressure him into positively reviewing her product — the quality of which he says had rapidly declined. When the brand released its Sculpting Stix last fall, consumers were outraged that two of the darkest shades were named Typo and Yikes, a perceived disrespect to Black customers. ColourPop quickly apologized and renamed the now-discontinued Sculpting Stix, but it’s been extremely selective with its shade naming since. The issue escalated to the point that Jaclyn Hill dropped her bestselling collaboration with Gerard and stopped associating with the brand altogether. UD is also known to push the envelope with its shade names. Currently, the internet is petitioning for the company to rename the shade Druggie from the Afterdark eye shadow palette. MAC has created several collections that have been pulled due to cultural appropriation. Namely Vibe Tribe —inspired by music festivals and insensitive towards Native Americans — and the Mexico-Inspired Rodarte collaboration — which features a nail polish named for a factory town where young girls are frequently abused. In fact, claims of repackaging have led many to believe that the brand’s products are old ColourPop products repackaged. Both companies deny the rumor, but the theory holds up: the two brands are owned by the same company, share laboratories, and have almost identical formulas. Kat also received negative attention after last summer’s social media posts, in which she publicly ‘broke up’ with longtime friend Jeffree Star. He claimed that Kat maliciously exaggerated allegations to paint herself in a better light; some fans saw it as a case of a more popular person — Kat — bullying someone much smaller. Star has had numerous negative interactions with fans: He started a Twitter war with a customer who claimed her Skin Frost contained human hair. She eventually was sent a replacement, but she was blocked by Star’s Twitter in the process. Star’s public falling out with Kat Von D brought some of his other shady business dealings to light, including his apparent refusal to pay the artist who helped design his logo. The artist, B.J. Betts, says the issue was resolved amicably. After Lime Crime’s server was hacked in 2014, customers’ credit card information was stolen, and false charges racked up by the identity thieves. The brand denied the hack for weeks, until they finally notified customers not with an email, but an Instagram post. Many say they were never reimbursed. Its Velvetine liquid lipsticks have also been investigated by the FDA because they allegedly contain dangerous chemicals that have yet to be removed from the formula. Note: This story previously stated that Urban Decay discontinued two products named Celebutard and Ghettofaulous. The brand never carried those shades, and this article has been edited to correctly attribute Celebutard to Kat Von D Beauty.
title: “The 10 Most Controversial Beauty Brands Of All Time Ranked” ShowToc: true date: “2024-10-14” author: “Chelsea Peters”
For some brands, it spawns from one ill-timed mistake. For others, controversy is at the very root of the operation. These are just a handful of the past decade’s biggest beauty controversies, ranked from least to most damaging. Shortly after, makeup artist Kevin James Bennett shared his negative experiences with founder Zena Shteysel, whom he says tried to pressure him into positively reviewing her product — the quality of which he says had rapidly declined. When the brand released its Sculpting Stix last fall, consumers were outraged that two of the darkest shades were named Typo and Yikes, a perceived disrespect to Black customers. ColourPop quickly apologized and renamed the now-discontinued Sculpting Stix, but it’s been extremely selective with its shade naming since. The issue escalated to the point that Jaclyn Hill dropped her bestselling collaboration with Gerard and stopped associating with the brand altogether. UD is also known to push the envelope with its shade names. Currently, the internet is petitioning for the company to rename the shade Druggie from the Afterdark eye shadow palette. MAC has created several collections that have been pulled due to cultural appropriation. Namely Vibe Tribe —inspired by music festivals and insensitive towards Native Americans — and the Mexico-Inspired Rodarte collaboration — which features a nail polish named for a factory town where young girls are frequently abused. In fact, claims of repackaging have led many to believe that the brand’s products are old ColourPop products repackaged. Both companies deny the rumor, but the theory holds up: the two brands are owned by the same company, share laboratories, and have almost identical formulas. Kat also received negative attention after last summer’s social media posts, in which she publicly ‘broke up’ with longtime friend Jeffree Star. He claimed that Kat maliciously exaggerated allegations to paint herself in a better light; some fans saw it as a case of a more popular person — Kat — bullying someone much smaller. Star has had numerous negative interactions with fans: He started a Twitter war with a customer who claimed her Skin Frost contained human hair. She eventually was sent a replacement, but she was blocked by Star’s Twitter in the process. Star’s public falling out with Kat Von D brought some of his other shady business dealings to light, including his apparent refusal to pay the artist who helped design his logo. The artist, B.J. Betts, says the issue was resolved amicably. After Lime Crime’s server was hacked in 2014, customers’ credit card information was stolen, and false charges racked up by the identity thieves. The brand denied the hack for weeks, until they finally notified customers not with an email, but an Instagram post. Many say they were never reimbursed. Its Velvetine liquid lipsticks have also been investigated by the FDA because they allegedly contain dangerous chemicals that have yet to be removed from the formula. Note: This story previously stated that Urban Decay discontinued two products named Celebutard and Ghettofaulous. The brand never carried those shades, and this article has been edited to correctly attribute Celebutard to Kat Von D Beauty.
title: “The 10 Most Controversial Beauty Brands Of All Time Ranked” ShowToc: true date: “2024-09-28” author: “Barbara Gokey”
For some brands, it spawns from one ill-timed mistake. For others, controversy is at the very root of the operation. These are just a handful of the past decade’s biggest beauty controversies, ranked from least to most damaging. Shortly after, makeup artist Kevin James Bennett shared his negative experiences with founder Zena Shteysel, whom he says tried to pressure him into positively reviewing her product — the quality of which he says had rapidly declined. When the brand released its Sculpting Stix last fall, consumers were outraged that two of the darkest shades were named Typo and Yikes, a perceived disrespect to Black customers. ColourPop quickly apologized and renamed the now-discontinued Sculpting Stix, but it’s been extremely selective with its shade naming since. The issue escalated to the point that Jaclyn Hill dropped her bestselling collaboration with Gerard and stopped associating with the brand altogether. UD is also known to push the envelope with its shade names. Currently, the internet is petitioning for the company to rename the shade Druggie from the Afterdark eye shadow palette. MAC has created several collections that have been pulled due to cultural appropriation. Namely Vibe Tribe —inspired by music festivals and insensitive towards Native Americans — and the Mexico-Inspired Rodarte collaboration — which features a nail polish named for a factory town where young girls are frequently abused. In fact, claims of repackaging have led many to believe that the brand’s products are old ColourPop products repackaged. Both companies deny the rumor, but the theory holds up: the two brands are owned by the same company, share laboratories, and have almost identical formulas. Kat also received negative attention after last summer’s social media posts, in which she publicly ‘broke up’ with longtime friend Jeffree Star. He claimed that Kat maliciously exaggerated allegations to paint herself in a better light; some fans saw it as a case of a more popular person — Kat — bullying someone much smaller. Star has had numerous negative interactions with fans: He started a Twitter war with a customer who claimed her Skin Frost contained human hair. She eventually was sent a replacement, but she was blocked by Star’s Twitter in the process. Star’s public falling out with Kat Von D brought some of his other shady business dealings to light, including his apparent refusal to pay the artist who helped design his logo. The artist, B.J. Betts, says the issue was resolved amicably. After Lime Crime’s server was hacked in 2014, customers’ credit card information was stolen, and false charges racked up by the identity thieves. The brand denied the hack for weeks, until they finally notified customers not with an email, but an Instagram post. Many say they were never reimbursed. Its Velvetine liquid lipsticks have also been investigated by the FDA because they allegedly contain dangerous chemicals that have yet to be removed from the formula. Note: This story previously stated that Urban Decay discontinued two products named Celebutard and Ghettofaulous. The brand never carried those shades, and this article has been edited to correctly attribute Celebutard to Kat Von D Beauty.
