ELLE.COM/UK November 2O19 179
ELLEBeautyhen Glossier started selling face mist and skin tint in
2O14, a devoted fan base was born almost overnight.
Loyalists commented on images of Glossier’s highlighters
d cream eye shadows with all the zeal of an evangelist:
reeeeeamyyy.’ ‘J’adore.’ ‘Stunning.’ The comments
went on, and on. But this past year, Glossier and its evangelists had
a bit of a falling-out. The brand launched a bright make-up line
called Play, and the negative pile-on was swift. Play’s Glitter Gelée,
a gel pot of paillettes designed to make your eyelids sparkle like
disco balls, caused outcries against the non-biodegradable glitter.
Eye pencils that arrived individually wrapped in foil and then boxed
led to laments about excessive packaging. As one commenter,
Elise from Canada, put it, ‘This kind of thing is not acceptableILLUSTRATIONSbyLISA RAHMANIs CALL
- OU T
CULTURE
HOLDING the
BE AUT Y
INDUSTRY
HOSTAGE?
when there are so many alternative options for product developers!!
Stay woke, y’all – we need to keep these companies on their toes!’
As the Play drama unfolded in furious comments and posts across
Instagram, Twitter and Reddit, and in YouTube videos adding up to
hundreds of thousands of views, I contemplated the impact of the
collective complaining, a phenomenon that feels as much a fixture on
social media as cat videos. ‘Calling out a company is low risk – it’s
not like calling out your aunt at Christmas about immigration,’ says
Lisa Nakamura, PhD and director of the
Digital Studies Institute at the University of
Michigan. ‘Social media is a playground
where everybody, unfortunately, is
showing their worst side right now.’
What really matters is separating the
minute-by-minute mini soap operas that
just serve as entertainment from those
actually moving the needle. It was an
online uproar when cult beauty brand
Tarte released a new foundation with
only 15 shades, showing a clear lack of
diversity. Especially when compared to
fellow brand Fenty Beauty’s 5O shades.
This led to the discontinuation and
complete reformulation of its Shape Tape
Foundation, taking it up to 5O shades
under the new Face Tape moniker.
Estée Laundry, an Instagram account
run by an anonymous ‘collective’ of
beauty superfans with more than
8O,OOO followers, aims to keep the
industry in check. (It’s often compared
to the fashion watchdog account
Diet Prada, the first account to call
out creatives copying fellow brands’
designs.) The account gained mainstream
attention last autumn after revealing
that the beauty brand Sunday Riley
had asked employees to plant positive
Sephora reviews for some of its products.
Estée Laundry prides itself on being the
first to point out a brand’s lack of diversity
or copycat packaging. ‘Our aim is to
peel off the gloss and give consumers
an insider’s glimpse into what really
happens in the industry,’ Estée Laundry
told ELLE via email. ‘We hope that brands see this as an opportunity to
put more emphasis on honesty, transparency and sustainability.’
The beauty industry has been hit hard by this new breed of
consumer watchdogs, who have been fighting for extra scrutiny about
inclusivity conservation as well as ingredient lists and sources of
inspiration. While marketers of yesteryear rarely faced a public court
of shaming, many brands, especially independent labels, must often
face criticism head-on today. Clean skincare brand Drunk Elephant, a
f requent subject of call - out s, cam e under fire ear l y t his year when Chemist
Confessions, another investigative beauty account (this one run by
two young female chemists), claimed that silicone — among the brand’s
supposed no-no ingredients — was indeed in one of its sunscreens. Drunk
Elephant founder Tiffany Masterson and her team respondedLwSOCIAL MEDIA’S COMPL A IN T CULTURE is CHALLENGING
BRANDS TO SIT UP and TA K E NOT E.
BUT, asks CRYSTAL MARTIN, IS THE RESPONSE
ALL JUST FOR SHOW?