BEAUTY
Scandals That Rocked The Beauty Industry
By ANNIE JOHNSTON
NikkieTutorials
Nikkie de Jager, aka NikkieTutorials, started her influencer journey in 2008 and has since accumulated millions of followers and her own cosmetics brand. In 2020, she was forced to come out as transgender after blackmailers threatened to release her story to the press.
Charles & Westbrook
James Charles and Tati Westbrook became close friends when the young YouTuber started out, but they fell out in 2019. Westbrook released a video where she discussed Charles, his manipulative and hypocritical qualities, his sexual coercion of men, and his embarrassment to endorse Halo Beauty.
Aftermath
The beauty community took sides as the feud went on with big names like Shane Dawson and Jeffree Star backing Westbrook. Charles lost millions of subscribers on YouTube and while the feud seemed to have fizzled out by the end of 2019, Westbrook released a video in 2020 claiming she had been manipulated by Dawson and Star.
Sunday Riley
Skincare company Sunday Riley came under fire in 2019 when a former employee accused them of writing fake reviews. The Federal Trade Commission discovered that the allegations were true and that Riley instructed employees to create three accounts on Sephora’s website to write 5-star reviews and dislike 1-star reviews.
Kat Von D
Kat Von D rose to fame because of her tattoo shows on TLC, but her success came from her beauty brand. She received backlash because of the questionable names of some of her lipsticks, which she refused to apologize for, and how she caused a frenzy when she announced she would be raising her baby without vaccines.