2019 has taken its rightful throne as the messiest year in beauty. From the James Charles saga to the cancellation of Juvia's Place to Jaclyn Hill's lipstickgate, the drama is never-ending. And now, to make it all worse, Makeup Geek founder Marlena Stell is the latest to join the long list of influencers who have fallen into the abyss of beauty chaos.
In a newly released video, which she says was her last ever, she gives her two cents about things that are happening in the industry and blasts some well known YouTubers in the process. One of those was Jaclyn Hill, whom Stell said knew about her contaminated lipsticks the entire time. Things just keep getting worse for Jaclyn Hill Cosmetics.
Makeup Geek founder Marlena Stell just blasted the beauty community with her most recent YouTube post titled "Dear Influencers."
"Not going to lie, I'm extremely anxious posting this video, however, if I didn't post my story and thoughts on everything, it would continue to eat away at me slowly. This video is for me and no one else — it's my chance after 11 years of being in this community to speak from my heart on how I feel and to defend my integrity and motives which have been in question this last year," she wrote in the video caption.
"I've called it Dear Influencers because if it weren't for influencers I would not even have Makeup Geek at the level it is today and for that I will always be grateful. On the flip side, I want to see this community turned around into a place of honesty, transparency, and love for beauty. It has been lacking in recent years, and I can no longer be silent since I love this community just as much as everyone else. It's been my identity for so long…"
One of the influencers who got it the worst was Jaclyn Hill.
Stell held nothing back. She explained that in June 2016 she was at the same lab that manufactured Jaclyn Hill Cosmetics lipsticks for an unreleased concealer. The reason the Makeup Geek concealers were never released is because these concealers had fibers, plastic, and metal embedded in them. She said she warned Hill about working with this lab, but the suggestions fell on deaf ears.
Even more surprising, she divulged that she's never seen white gloves, the thing that Hill insisted caused the hairy lipsticks, in the lab. Social media was furious.
Reddit ripped Hill to shreds for her negligence and questioned how nobody seems to know the exact lab.
"How does no one know the name of the actual lab? I would think the beautuber fan community would have dug up the name by now. It cant be private knowledge what labs a cosmetics company uses, I would think that would be public information," a commenter said under a Reddit thread.
Allegedly, that information is private.
"From my knowledge, it is actually private information what lab people use. Many labs work with high profile customers/brands, so it's a breach of privacy to name customers. Marlena actually made a comment in this video about how unprofessional the lab was from telling her that they were also working with Jaclyn," someone said, emphasizing yet another wrong turn for the lab.
Hill was painted as a careless business owner who was well aware of the risks associated with using said manufacturer.
"The fact that jaclyn *probably* went ahead after being warned about QC issues – tells you everything you need to know about the kind of CEO she is.
I'm not going to lie- I'm honestly kind of bummed for Marlena – It must be hard to have to deal with all of these incidents behind the scenes and try to be dignified and cordial with everyone after the fact. I get that most people don't care about her feelings and only wanted to see her takedown jaclyn – but this was hard to watch," someone else noted.
Those who previously thought Stell was just bitter toward Hill finally understood her point of view.
"Welp. That was long. But interesting. It was eye opening to see her take on the Jacklyn Hill scandal. I was wrong, because I thought she was kinda relishing in Jacklyns downfall. I still disagree with how she handled the Temptalia thing, but can understand her point of view now," a Hill fan explained.
When will YouTube go back to being what it used to be?
"This is absolutely corny of me, and probably dramatic but… after watching this video I scrolled all the way down to Marlena’s first ever uploads.. I clicked and watched a couple of minutes of a few of them. I nearly cried?? It really hit me. The beauty community will never be the same. The hours and hours of comfort, joy, and learning something new about makeup is gone. I was instantly transported back to the days where I was in 8th grade, upset about being bullied at school- and coming home to watch Marlena, Kandee Johnson, Xsparkage, and pixi woo.
That was my comfort, my hobby, and passion. Just learning about makeup and practicing techniques. As the years went by, and the community changed and grew… it’s just a shallow shell of what it used to be. My love and passion for makeup has slowly died over the past few years. I’m over the 'tea,' I’m over the 'receipts,' i’m over the 'scandals.' I miss the old days. I’m emotional," a sentimental and longtime beauty follower wrote.
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