Jaclyn Hill finally did it! The beloved influencer finally revealed the first collection to drop from her Jaclyn Cosmetics brand. Hill's fans have been waiting on their favorite to bless them with products from her namesake brand for years, and finally her company has a release date for a collection coming in all its sparkly packaged glory.
The influencer revealed her first lipstick collection via her YouTube channel. The lip shades she chose are expected, and she explained her reasoning pretty well, save for one part in which she describes exactly what she believes a nude lipstick shade is.
Let's take a brief dive into the Jaclyn Hill lipstick collection coming to a beauty bag near you and that alarming definition of a "true nude."
First, this is the packaging for Hill's first lipstick product!
The packaging hit the web and received mixed reviews, but I'm honestly… here for it? It's sparkly, but it looks like the kind of smooth glitter that doesn't leave flecks everywhere. Several people compared the hexagonal shape with the signature Fenty Beauty packaging, but I also think it's different enough to still work for Jaclyn Hill. She's bringing us sparkles and diamonds and a touch of Old Hollywood glam. It's very Elizabeth Taylor–esque, but either you get that or you don't.
Via her YouTube channel, Hill revealed that she's dropping the So Rich Nude Lipstick Collection.
"We are dropping with 20 shades of all nude," she confirmed. Her PR box honestly looked stunning, and I wish she had shown better shots of it because I wanted to get a closer look at those pretty diamonds rolling around the edges. "This collection is a dream come true, and I’m so excited to finally be able to share it with you. These are the nudes I always wished for. So rich. So buttery. So good. I hope you’re as obsessed as I am,” a note inside her PR box reads.
Before you roll your eyes at yet another nude set, Hill provided an explanation for why she chose to go with nude lipsticks for her first launch.
"Why not? Everyone needs a nude. My vision behind having 20 new lipsticks for my initial launch. When I think of makeup, I think of lipstick. That’s just the key, most important thing… I wanted to start a brand that is a core brand where you can go to for your products that you need and you can’t live without. I want to start off with basics and then build from there so that you can really trust my brand and get to know me by something as simple as a lipstick.”
This sounds like a smart idea. Hill is thinking about the long game and not just a first launch with bells and whistles. Think about it: There are just some makeup staples that every brand should have if it wants to sustain itself.
It wasn't until Hill began swatching the lipsticks on her arm and explaining her love for one of her favorite nudes in the collection that my eyebrows raised.
Hill specifically took the time to explain the very first swatch at the top of her arm, which she named Nude AF. In her spiel about how wonderful and perfect it is, she provided a definition of what a true nude is that was completely inaccurate.
"I created this shade. It’s called Nude AF. This shade is a very nude-nude with a neutral undertone … It’s not super pinky. It’s not super cool. It’s not super warm. It’s not taupe-y. It’s not caramel. It’s not brown. It’s NUDE."
Ehhh… The strange thing about this statement is that "caramel" and "brown" are also NUDES. They're just nudes for people who aren't white. Call this petty, but it is what it is. To describe that super-white shade as a "nude nude" and negate the nudeness of deeper colors is… off?
Hill continued her explanation of how perfect Nude AF is by describing that it's for everyone.
"It is amazing. I developed this because I figured that this is a shade that everybody needs no matter what color skin tone you have, because it’s perfect to pop on the center of any neutral lip color," she stated. Experienced makeup lovers know that most of the time when an alternate nude lipstick is popped into the center of the lip, the purpose is to provide a subtle or dramatic ombré effect. This means the center of the lip is meant to be lighter, which further explains why this Nude AF color shouldn't be considered as the blanket nude for everyone. Not everyone is light… get it?
Hill's description of what a true "nude" is had me skeptical about what her deeper nudes will actually look like as the rest of the video unfolded.
“I want everyone to find their shade in here that is YOUR nude," Hill stated in her video.
The swatches on Hill's arm didn't look very dark to me, and at first I didn't believe I would find a nude in the lineup. Luckily, it seems that despite Hill's bad explanation of what a true nude is, she still came through with nude shades for a decent variety of skin tones. Although she described a couple of her shades as neutral, I would say that 98% of her lipsticks still appear to have a pink or red undertone. That might be the only drawback to buying her lipsticks. If you're a person with darker skin looking for your own true nude with a golden undertone, then these lipsticks *might* not fill that need. She has the pink and red undertones covered though.
(Hack: Use a concealer that matches your skin tone and undertone if you really can't find your perfect nude lipstick.)
The internet seems to be having a fun time with this Jaclyn Hill launch.
Fans are sharing her excitement that the launch is finally happening. They're happy to see her dream come true especially since it took such a while that so many began to doubt her.
"I cried like a little baby," one fan wrote. "I’m so beyond happy for you and I can’t wait to get my hands on every INCH of this brand."
Even the fans who doubted her seem to be turning around.
"I was ready to be disappointed, but let me tell you….I’m actually excited??? I see the potential and I’m ready to try it out," a fan wrote.
Although Jaclyn Hill has always maintained a swarm of fans, there were a few who kind of lost their excitement after years of waiting. It was an unfortunate situation all around as it was understandable that Hill couldn't launch yet (personal life, other business obligations, those things take WORK, etc.), but it's also understandable that people just decided not to wait around anymore. Still, it appears that she's won back a few fans who had turned into major skeptics.
There were even fans defending her against Fenty comparisons.
"Everyone saying they’re disappointed… go watch the video. She talks all about why it took so many years. And this is only the beginning, she’s obviously going to create and launch a lot more than just lipsticks," a fan wrote. "This is only her first launch, and it’s d*** good! Of course, it’s not a full face of products! People saying 'well Rihanna came out with a full collection'…. yeah! She’s freakin RIHANNA! She’s got BILLIONS of dollars lmao. And a ton of people doing this for her. Jaclyn is doing this alone for the most part, building this HERSELF with her own money from the ground up. Cut her some slack."
Still, some people were put off by the shade range of the nude lipsticks.
"WHAT IN THE CAUCASIAN?!" drama blogger Here For The Tea captioned a screenshot of Hill's arm swatches on YouTube. "Bruh fifty shades of white girl," another person commented underneath.
To be fair, I think her camera simply didn't capture the deepness of her darker shades. I also think she possibly swatched with a very light hand. The shades do look much lighter on her arm than they do on the models' in the official swatch photos. The swatches on her arm paired with her shoddy definition of nude are what threw me off about her launch until I saw those official brand swatches. We'll get to see how those shades really hold up once the lipsticks are actually available for sale.
May 30 is the release date. Mark your calendars if you're interested in these nude lippies. Stay tuned if you want to see what else Hill has in store for Jaclyn Cosmetics!
