Okay, so this is a big muddle of a story, but it looks like the Becca Jaclyn Hill Eye Shadow Palette has been pulled because of ‘quality issues’. It’s currently no longer listed on the Sephora website.
On Saturday, I watched a YouTube video by Rita B (HERE), flagged by a BBB reader, who noticed that a couple of the colours weren’t up to the usual Becca standard. She did some ingredient investigating (quite a new thing that several of the US YouTubers and Bloggers are starting to do as standard on all products) and found ingredient matches to Catrice, a budget brand. The main issue seems to be with the second colour along, that swatches fine as a finger swatch but doesn’t translate to the eye using a shadow brush.
You have to be very, very up on formulas to notice this I think, but Rita is a huge Becca fan so knows the product textures like the back of her hand. I can’t, in all honesty, say I would have been able to pick up on this myself because while I know and like the Becca range, I’m not sure the formula-indexing in my brain knows the range well enough to ring an alarm. Which I guess is the same for many bloggers and vloggers who have reviewed the palette and claimed it fabulous although it does make you question how thorough the reviews have been. Getting samples to swatch on this range to show you before you buy is like pulling teeth so in this instance, I’m glad!
Catrice isn’t a poor quality brand by any means, but it seems the issue is that if you’re paying Becca prices, you want Becca formulas, not something inferior. As far as I’m aware the Champagne Pop palette has the original Becca formulas. Without getting into the gossip surrounding this, because US forums have been very active overnight, there are conflicting stories about whether Jaclyn or Becca were aware of the discrepancy, but it seems via Jaclyn’s Snapchat that she has confirmed there are inconsistencies. According to her Snapchat, Sephora will issue refunds on returns which seems to be the right thing to do in a difficult situation.
Bloggers and Vloggers going the extra mile on investigating ingredients is becoming much more prominent in the US (I will just say that I’ve tried it myself and because Google restricts the number of search terms you can use in any one search and ingredient lists being super long in many cases, I haven’t brought up anything obvious, but it is something to be aware of and that it can be done) which is great news for consumers. It means that cases like the Becca Jaclyn Hill Eye Shadow Palette don’t go un-noticed and that beauty fans can make their choices accordingly. It doesn’t seem to be the case that there are different batches of palettes – it would be highly unusual for a brand to use different factories or different components for the same palette, but we may never get to the bottom of that one and if we do, I’ll drop it into this post.
For UK consumers, the only stockist for the Becca Jaclyn Hill Eye Shadow Palette is SpaceNK (the palette has been completely removed from the SpaceNK site) who is sending emails very soon to customers who have bought it on pre-order saying the palette has been withdrawn by the brand and of course, SpaceNK will issue refunds.
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23 comments
WOW, I hadn’t heard about this yet. I missed the palette before it was gone but was hoping to get it later this month. I do like that people are interested in ingredients and quality. Thanks for the heads up about this. I’ll keep my ears open, as I’m curious what will come of it!!
The other thing worth noting here is that while Becca products are made in the USA, the Jaclyn Hill eye shadow palette was made in China — something that we learned via Rita B’s video. Becca has yet to address this production change publicly, but many here in the States feel that it was done as a cost-cutting measure with the hope that customers–many of whom are young, impressionable girls — would not notice. Becca seriously underestimated the intelligence of consumers. This will undoubtedly be a very expensive lesson for them.
I watched a few youtube reviews of this palette, filmed by some of the influencers who got to go on the press trip to NYC to see the collection, and all of them said this palette is amazing, so soft, so buttery, you need it, etc. And then this. So… I’m calling BS on those youtubers, like how much can you trust them really. This whole thing just makes me so skeptical of online influencers, and shows that as a brand you can just pay your way out of a glitzy party and into awesome online reviews.
I don’t think the issue is the other youtubers. I got the Eyeshadow pallete and I love it. I must have gotten one of the good ones. It’s highly pigmented and the shadows are buttery. I was going to order a second one as a backup. Even Kathleen Lights loved the pallete and just did a makeup tutorial using it. And she’s highly trusted. Since not all the Eyeshadow palletes are bad, only a percentage, it’s safe to say that it’s possible that those YouTube gurus ALSO got a good pallete.
Many YouTubers are trusted by gullible viewers/readers who are too naive to know any better. What about the Lord & Taylor FTC scandal in the US? Or Oreo in the UK? All well-known and ‘respected’ bloggers. It doesn’t mean a thing.
Agree with this. The Fashion Law posted a very well written article about how the big bloggers and Youtuber are all violating FTC regulations for nondisclosure, like Chiara, Aimee (she fixed this after), Kristina, etc. It’s all too common. Just because someone is big, doesn’t meant they are trustworthy.
That’s big news! I was determined to get my hands on this palette because the shades (at least as the appear in photos look amazing). It’s very dissapointing. I wonder whether they will fix the quality issues an re-launch the palette at some point in the future.
I’ve actually heard that there is a discrepancy in the face palette as well, that the original Champagne Pop highlighter formula is different than the one in this palette. People are reporting that the Champagne Pop in the palette is a lot more chalky than the original.
Champagne Pop in the palette has a cheap filler that the regular CP does not have. So, while the face palette was made in the US and not in China like the eye palette, it is still not the regular formula.
goodness.. none of this news gets any better, does it.
I dm Sephora on Twitter with my order number stating ideas in the uk wanted a refund but return costs might be too high … Got a response saying no need to return and I would get a refund on my next bill cycle!
Might be worth other uk individuals trying if they are not happy with quality.
Wow how interesting! I don’t watch jaclyn but I did think it was a very strange union- becca were always known for being natural beachy beauty and then suddenly become garish highlight advocates? It’s sad that they evidently knew all the sheep would come running and no need to feed the sheep proper stuff it’s pearls to a pig (to mix metaphors) but yay that a true becca fan was not be duped! I understand jaclyn’s excuse is to plead ignorance and throw becca under the bus, how classy.
Gosh, it does make you think a bit, doesn’t it. What about all the insanely positive reviews out there on this? Is there just a real discrepancy on quality in the line, or are they all not-so-good and people have Emperor’s New Clothes Syndrome?
Beekeyper – Latest – Becca x Jaclyn Hill Shimmering Skin Perfector
Bearing in mind that everyone consistently says that it swatches great but doesn’t translate to eye I can see that if people swatched it they would literally see no issue with the colours. As I mentioned, I’m really not sure I’d have spotted the problem.
It’s a really tricky one for Becca. At least people are being refunded if they’re not happy with their palette!
I think they’re doing the best possible thing in a very difficult situation.
I’m not a fan of Jaclyn’s, but it really did not surprise me she is connected to this considering her history with brands (like Gerard Cosmetics). What did surprise me is Becca making poor choices for a quick dollar. I don’t trust many Youtubers these days. They’re paid to promote and want the free stuff to keep coming, so they rarely give bad reviews.
Thank You. How interesting, I know is SpaceNK there has been a frenzy of people wanting to buy this palette.
The most important thing to remember is caveat emptor – buyer beware. Sure watch youtubers and read blogs about products but the real test is if they work for you, one thing does not work 100% for everyone. So reviews aside the basic facts are that the formula is different in this palette from Becca’s original ombre eye palettes and it is made in China versus the original ombre palettes made in the US. Products are made in China for cheaper production costs. I don’t believe Becca is the only company to have done this so you really have to look at what you’re buying, especially when a company is producing specially priced sets (I’ve definitely noticed items made in China when the companies normally make them in the US, Italy, etc.). If you are ok with an item made in China…and being charged at the same price point as something made in the US, Italy, Germany, France, Japan, etc. (where our high end and good drugstore makeup comes from), then that’s your choice. Otherwise buy something else because in the end, it’s just makeup and then next best thing will be coming up on the horizon anyway.
Just to point out that there is plenty of high quality product coming out of China.. things have really changed – production is cheaper of course, but just because it has a China label doesn’t always reflect that it’s not good quality.
Oh wow! I hate no idea!! Excellent post. 100% agree…if you are paying for higher price items…the ingredients should match that. I still love Becca and Jaclyn Hill. I am going to do more research!!
Mel | http://www.thegossipdarling.com
On the whole, I think brands are really skimping on quality. Chanel cosmetic quality has really gone down and now we are hearing about quality issues people are having with their expensive Chanel handbags. Everyone is cutting corners but they are certainly not dropping their prices. Funnily enough I have never purchased any catrice(very good)products that were made in China. Very strange indeed.
Really interesting – and even more so having watched the video initially. It frustrates me that in the UK it’s SO hard to see what ingredients are used and do the thorough research to investigate in this way. Most PR samples don’t come with a list, box or leaflet and 90% don’t have anything on their website either; in the US these are legal requirements so they’re getting very savvy. It goes to show in the digital age you can’t try to get away with passing off an inferior product as a premium one.