On Friday, May 15, Jeffree Star announced his brand new eyeshadow palette and collection, "Cremated." On Instagram, Jeffree wrote, "This one of a kind spooky @jeffreestarcosmetics 24 pan gothic dream will wake up the makeup world! … Get ready to be deceased. Extreme payoff. With our iconic mattes & new extreme sparkle metallic formula."
The next morning, Jeffree officially revealed the palette, showing off the dark neutral eyeshadow shades.
The palette retails for $58 and the rest of the collection will be available on May 22. Of course, controversy is never far behind when Jeffree Star does… well, anything… and this palette launch was no exception.
As soon as he revealed the palette, Jeffree immediately faced backlash over the name "Cremated." On Instagram, people commented that it seemed tone deaf to release a "cremated" collection during a pandemic. One person wrote, "Seems a little tone deaf to put out a collection that’s themed around death while millions of people are dying and losing people they love. Just an opinion."
Another person said, "Honestly i love your products and a massive fan …. i understand you probably sorted the name ages ago BUT the name and the current circumstances in the world…. seems quite insensitive…… i think a lot of people will be upset by this if they have lost family members..or friends!"
Some of Jeffree's fans stood up for him, of course, explaining that he filed the name of this palette months ago (last November, to be exact) and claiming that people were just overreacting.
After seeing the controversy his palette caused, Jeffree took to YouTube to explain his side of things. In his video, he said, "This collection was actually supposed to come out in April but the coronavirus has had the whole entire beauty industry, of course, as well as the entire planet shook and a lot of brands and a lot of us companies have had to move things back. We were supposed to have a very gothic and dark spring but of course things did not go according to plan, but that’s okay."
"Cremated is like my iconic catchphrase, I'm deceased," he continued. "Cremated, as well as being, of course, very dark and gothic, it is also a term that I like to use, you know when you're really blown away by something, you’re mesmerized and it’s so sickening? Me and my friends like to say, b*tch, I'm cremated."
