Seems like James Charles has been gate-keeping the beauty industry yet again. It all started when former The Hills star, Lauren Conrad mistakenly sent Beauty guru, James Charles a PR package with empty products from her new beauty line, Lauren Conrad Beauty. And safe to say, it didn’t sit well with James.
“Wow, can this actually get any weirder, or any worse?”
The 21-year-old YouTuber and makeup guru took to his Instagram Stories to diss the former reality star’s new makeup line after empty samples were accidentally sent to him.
James showed his followers the empty liquid highlighter tube and dry eyeliner pen he received in the mail. “So I’ve already been having a really weird day,” he began. “Maybe one day I’ll tell you guys about it, but honestly probably not because I probably can’t,” he continued. “But I’ve just been sitting here thinking, ‘wow, can this actually get any weirder, or any worse?’ and it just did.”
“I just opened a PR package from somebody who has no business having a makeup brand”
Without mentioning Lauren by name, the 21-year-old Youtuber scoffed, “I just opened a PR package from a new makeup brand from somebody who has no business having a makeup brand. And I just wanted to show you guys some of these products, okay?”
“This is the liquid highlighter that I just opened up, notice anything weird about it? There’s no highlighter in there, nor is there a cap and it’s not even sealed. Like I actually just received this piece of plastic in a PR box. This is the eyeliner that I got, notice the tip is white? That’s because there is no ink in the actual eyeliner pen. Like stop making makeup brands. Stop! Stop!” he yelled at the camera.
“She will be let go immediately”
While James didn’t name the makeup brand in his story, and made a point to cover up the name of the brand on the packaging, later Lauren Conrad revealed in an Instagram comment that he was actually talking about her brand. The 34-year-old former Hills star presumably eager to clear the air, confirmed the products were hers and took responsibility for the mix-up.
It turns out that Lauren’s products weren’t faulty at all and it was merely a packing error on Lauren’s part. As she had actually packed all the PR samples herself to make them extra personal.
“For those asking about the empty components sent to James… let me tell you a fun story. The woman who put together the gifts (it was me) decided to fill a makeup bag full of empty samples to make sure everything would fit inside. When beauty products arrived and it was time to fill all the makeup bags she (again, me) accidentally included the bag full of empties with the others and it was sent out.” Conrad then joked of herself, “She will be let go immediately.”
Backlash and Criticism
The 34-year-old reality TV star and businesswoman has been in the beauty game for longer than James, and her fans quickly jumped to her defense online. A Twitter user wrote, “Wait did James Charles just say LAUREN CONRAD (!!!) has no business starting a makeup brand ??? LAUREN CONRAD ????? the woman who invented winged liner ???”
However, It seemed like the drama was squashed pretty quickly. With Lauren saying in a later comment that she had reached out to James to explain the situation and he was “very nice about it.”
“The stories were supposed to be funny but they just came across as nasty”
As for James, he posted an apology to his own Instagram story, saying the videos on his story “were supposed to be funny but just came across as nasty.”
“Wanted to write an apology to @LaurenConrad for my stories earlier,” he wrote. “I’ve been on the verge of tears all day long from a ton of things going wrong & opening her PR package was the icing on the cake of weird things happening today. My stories talking about the products were supposed to be funny but they just came across as nasty because I was so upset. Not with her, but with other things that happened today. Lauren and I spoke privately about the misunderstanding & are both good.”
However, despite his apology, some people still argued that James was in the wrong for attempting to “gatekeep” the beauty industry, especially against a woman who has been in beauty for over a decade.
Not James’ first time receiving backlash for gate-keeping the makeup community
This isn’t the first time James has gone on a rant about a celebrity makeup line. The whole blunder comes just one week after James issued an apology to Alicia Keys after he slammed her upcoming beauty line with e.l.f. Cosmetics. Saying that she “shouldn’t be coming out with” a beauty line because she doesn’t wear makeup.
However, He backtracked on the statement after finding out her beauty line was actually a skincare collaboration with ELF, and posted an apology for his “microaggression.”
“Yesterday, I posted a sub-tweet about how I thought some celebrities shouldn’t launch makeup lines. It was about @aliciakeys,” Charles shared in a statement. “A few years ago, she announced that she no longer would wear makeup, so I was bothered because many celebrities come into the beauty space as a cash grab without any actual passion and then leave.”
“I deleted the tweet after a few mins because it’s childish to indirect tweet someone & I am not the gatekeeper of makeup,” he added. “Anyone should be able to secure their bag and it’s not up to me which brands people should or shouldn’t support.”
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