What I'm Not Buying: Morphe X James Charles

Morphe "I can't sell anything without influencers shilling it" Cosmetics has teamed up with influencer James Charles, who is utterly adored by 12-year-olds. And they have created a palette that they are marketing to children. 

And I obviously won't be buying. 

To start this post, I want to say that I am very much not in James Charles's target demographic. So, absolutely nothing about him appeals to me. While I'm sure people of all ages watch his content, his main demographic is very young girls who don't find it mind-numbing, immature, and painfully gimmicky that he calls quite literally everything "sister." But, I've been 12 before, and I remember desperately wanting to be like Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen, so I'm not trying to make fun of his young audience who are literally children acting like children.  

But I do find most makeup marketing to be incredibly manipulative, and influencer marketing—especially to young children—is downright predatory. 

At 19 years old, James Charles himself is barely not a legal child. He rose to popularity by Photoshopping an outtake from his high school yearbook photos, and became extremely popular when he was dubbed the first male Covergirl. 

And this is a tangent that I absolutely need to explore. The VAST majority of makeup and beauty CEOs are men. In a market that is largely dominated by women consumers, there are very little women in power. When James Charles became the first male Covergirl, I was not excited. Yes, men wear makeup. And yes, a significant percentage of the men who wear makeup face an incredible amount of hatred and bigotry for doing so. And yes, we can all agree that men look fantastic in eyeliner. However, makeup companies market toward women. Women are the majority of consumers. And yet, in makeup, the few men who are involved rise to success at a much more rapid rate than women. 

So, no. I don't think that a teenage boy who was trying to get famous was a great choice for "Covergirl" over other women who had been working for a significantly larger period of time. 

I also don't care for James Charles because of the way he treated Marlena Stell, founder and CEO of Makeup Geek. Marlena made a comment about working with Netflix, and James made a really dumb and immature response:

Recently, Marlena exposed that some influencers charge upwards of $60,000 to feature a product in their video, and for some reason it surprised a lot of people to learn that influencers are only in this for the money and are incredibly manipulative. 

With that said, Makeup Geek has been failing for a few years at this point, largely due to unsuccessful, unoriginal, and inconsistent releases. Marlena has openly discussed her many personal issues, and it seems obvious that all of those issues negatively impacted her business. Makeup Geek was founded on duping/copying MAC shadows and selling them at a fraction of the cost, but whenever Makeup Geek has had to come up with original makeup, they've failed. 

But, James is an immature kid, and Marlena did build a once-successful international brand. Saying she "knows nothing about the industry" is delusional and really speaks to his young age, lack of tact, and lack of experience. 

And if you need any more proof that he is an attention seeker who just wanted to be famous:

So that's why I don't like James Charles. And if you've been reading my blog for a while now, you'll know that I also don't like Morphe and think they are one of the worst offenders in manipulating consumers. 

Let's look at the palette:

There's a lot going on here. This is a 39-pan eyeshadow palette, and it has a lot of colors. There are greens, yellows, blues, purples, mauves, golds, pinks, and browns. Personally, this palette just doesn't excite me. It looks like the colors have been somewhat divided into quads, which helps the color scheme from feeling too overwhelming, but it's just not one that speaks to me. 

I don't like the layout of this palette, and I really don't like when a brand makes different sized eyeshadow pans because they are essentially telling the consumer what shades they will use the most. I think if you're a young person who doesn't own much makeup, a color scheme like this can be really good. There are a lot of options, and there is a lot of opportunity to explore and be creative. Given his exact audience, I think this is a good color scheme. 

But given that it's Morphe and the quality is very likely not good, this palette should be more in the range of $15, not $40. Because for $40, you can get a mid-range palette of actually good quality. For $20, you can buy the BH Cosmetics Zodiac palette, which is of fantastic quality. Spending that much money on a mediocre palette is so unnecessary, especially when the people buying it are children who have little to no money. 

This palette looks like the Sephora Pro Editorial:

Juvia's Place Masquerade:

Too Faced Chocolate Gold:

Urban Decay Born to Run:

And for the young people Morphe fans, it has a lot of similarities with the Jaclyn Hill palette:

And the 39A:

Honestly though, writing this post feels a bit like a fruitless endeavor. Because the main people who will buy this palette are the James Charles fans who will buy anything that he attaches his name to. 

Hell, the palette hasn't even launched, and it already has a 5-star rating at Ulta:

Not surprisingly, the "reviews" are all from James Charles fans who are likely incredibly young:

And, as I've said before, there is not much that can stop a preteen fandom. 

But, this is a very expensive palette of mediocre quality. There are better palettes with these same shades. No, that palette won't have James Charles's name on it, and if that's the one thing that matters most to you, there's not much else I can say. 

For everyone else, if you are susceptible to hype, I'll warn you now that you will likely see a lot of influencers using and shilling this palette in the coming weeks. And that is only because people want to stay on people's "good side," and there is a lot of stroking egos that happens. But that doesn't mean you also need to have this palette. You already have colors that look like this, and if you don't, that's because you haven't wanted to buy them. So, don't make hype the reason you do now. And if you truly do want to try these colors, buy them in a palette with better quality. You'll still be spending the same amount of money, but you'll be getting more for it. 

But, on a different note, as a consumer and member of the beauty community, I am just really sick of all of this. I'm sick of Morphe palettes that are low quality and overpriced. I'm sick of all influencers. I don't want to see another influencer collaboration or influencer brand. I'm tired of lackluster makeup releases that are lazy because companies know that people will just buy them because of social media culture. 

I'm also tired of the makeup industry leaning younger and younger. Every person ages. And there are some industries, like the toy industry, that have to stay within their targeted age group. But the makeup industry has long been associated with adult women. And that's because there's a lot of cultural and misogynistic roots in the cosmetics industry. 

Wearing makeup—for a lot of women—has long been about needing to look attractive to men at home, in the workplace, and in the world at large. Some women believe they are ugly without makeup. Some women say they won't even leave the house without—at the very least—foundation and mascara. Some women won't wash the makeup off their face before they go to bed because they don't want their husbands to see them without makeup. 

There is a certain expectation that women will wear makeup and that women need to wear makeup. And if they don't, they are either deemed ugly, plain, a "tomboy," or a weaponized version of "feminist." 

This is something that I personally struggle with. I love doing my makeup, and it feels creative and fun for me. But sometimes, when I really think about it, I ask, "Why am I painting my face?" If the answer is "I want to look more attractive," that's not something that I am comfortable with for myself. But, my answer is usually, "Because it's fun and I like playing with colors."

Given how layered the relationship between women and makeup is, it is especially disappointing that most brands are owned by men, that men in makeup are easily given opportunities that women in makeup are not, and that the marketing is now leaning so much younger. 

Makeup, in a lot of ways, ages and sexualizes children. Kat Von D had a red lipstick called "Underage Red," and when people criticized the inappropriate name, she said she named it that because she would wear red lipstick to appear older to get into clubs. 

So having a lot of makeup themed around unicorns, mermaids, My Little Pony, and Disney—and having packaging that looks like play makeup or literal toys—sends a very complicated and potentially dangerous message. 

Relating all of this back to James Charles, I don't think he tells his young audience that they need to wear makeup to make themselves more attractive to men. If anything, I'm sure his channel celebrates having fun and playing with colors, which is what I myself like about makeup. But he is so young, and he has been on YouTube since he was an actual child. And the main people watching him are actual children. 

And he is a man—with an audience of mainly female children—who sought out the makeup community for fame and attention and who actively puts down other women in beauty. 

So, as an adult woman, I find it really disheartening that this is the direction the industry is currently heading. I would much prefer women getting these kind of opportunities, especially women of color. The beauty industry doesn't need an overpriced, poor-quality palette with colors we've already seen targeted at children. It needs to give opportunity to those who have been consistently shut out and excluded. 

Preying off of a preteen female fandom to make money isn't new—just look at the Justin Beiber line of perfumes. Because I'm so sure that 17-year-old Justin was truly passionate about selling a fruity scent called "Girlfriend." And I can guarantee that if Titanic-era Leonardo DiCaprio or Justin Timberlake came out with an overpriced, crappy makeup palette, I would have begged my parents to buy it too. But just because it isn't new doesn't mean that it isn't predatory. And James Charles promising to be everyone's best friend and wanting everyone to "support" him and buy his palette while sitting in his mansion isn't any less predatory. 

And while this is Morphe, which is only a thing at all because of influencer shilling, and I don't expect anything more from them, I hope this is a trend that the beauty community at large—and the adult women who make up 99% of the consumer base—are able to break. 

I'm not in James Charles's target demographic, so no one is trying to sell me this palette. Nonetheless, there is not much about it that I like or would want to support. So, I'm not buying. 

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What I'm Not Buying: Morphe x Jaclyn Hill The Vault

Morphe and influencer Jaclyn Hill have teamed up yet again on a collection of four palettes that are available to purchase individually or together as a set called "The Vault."

And I won't be buying. 

I know that I'm pretty late to write this post, but I figured it was probably still worth writing since these palettes are currently "out of stock" and will be restocked soon. 

If you haven't read my last post, I recommend doing so for all of my thoughts on the current drama in the beauty community and how much influence we consumers give to these YouTube influencers. I'll touch on some of that throughout this post, but for a more comprehensive post, I recommend reading that. 

I have a lot of thoughts about this collection, but I can simply them into two categories:

1. In terms of color selection, I have a fair amount of positive things to say
2. In terms of how this launch was handled, I have mostly negative things to say

Let's look at the palettes.

Ring the Alarm:

Bling Boss

Armed & Gorgeous:

Dark Magic:

Let's start with the positives. 

One thing that I can say about Jaclyn Hill is that she really knows how to curate a color selection. I don't think it's a coincidence that many brands want to work with her, and I also don't think it's a coincidence that Morphe set their sights on her when they first came to market. 

These palettes are quite pretty, in my opinion, and most of them don't look like things that we've seen ad nauseam from brands like Tarte, Too Faced, and Urban Decay. With that said, Ring the Alarm looks like a mini version of her big palette with Morphe, but we will get to that in a bit. 

Another positive about this collection is that it is inclusive. All of these palettes can work with multiple skin tones, and there is not a brow bone shadow just for light skin tones in every single palette. 

I think it's also good that you have the option to buy each palette individually, so if you are only really attracted to one color scheme, you can buy that for $15 instead of buying the entire vault, which retails for $49 plus tax and shipping (unless you buy in-store from Ulta). 

And that's where the positives stop for me. 

Thing is, if these palettes were high quality, I would probably have a lot of praise for them. It's a good price point and an interesting, inclusive color selection, so there is a lot to celebrate if the quality is there. Unfortunately, that is just not the case at all. Even if this palette had the same quality as the bigger Jaclyn Hill x Morphe palette, I would still say that the quality would need to be higher because darker mattes are really where this brand struggles, and this collection is full of them. 

Not unsurprisingly, this collection was met with delay, which has happened with every single Morphe and Jaclyn Hill release. To me, that is a huge cause for concern with supporting a brand because when you are a functional, professional brand, you shouldn't have to delay multiple projects. 

The PR statement that was fed to consumers was that there was a "pressing issue" and that ALL of the palettes were going to be destroyed and repressed. The "pressing issue" was apparently the cause for the negative reviews the vault got when PR packages were sent out, and the brand wanted to "correct the issue."

For what it's worth, this alone should speak volumes about the manipulation of swatches that brands provide. Let's look at Morphe's swatches:

Personally, I think all of these swatches look to be photoshopped onto the models' arms. I could be wrong about that, but at the very least, these swatches look visually enhanced. And when you look at these swatches, there is no reason to think that there is a quality issue or that the colors would be patchy and lacking pigment. But, since the brand acknowledged that there was a quality problem, it really showcases that swatches from brands are really worthless in a lot of ways. 

Before I get into the other problems with this collection and its launch, I just want to quickly discuss why I personally decided against buying any of these palettes before I even knew of the controversies surrounding the launch. 

Ring the Alarm:

This palette is essentially a condensed version of the bigger Jaclyn Hill palette:

So if you own this one, you don't need the smaller one. I wrote an anti-haul post on this palette, but if you've been reading my blog for a while, you'll know that I received it as a gift. My overall thoughts on it are that the quality is slightly better that the other palettes I've tried from Morphe, but it is still not great. The color selection is also too repetitive, and it didn't need to be 35 shadows. I don't like that there are so many pink shimmer shades but no pink matte shades, so it feels like your only option is to have a pink/brown look or a pink/red look. Finally, I only use a handful of shadows in this palette since so many are just repetitive, so it isn't worth the price for me. 

Due to this, I think Ring the Alarm is a better option overall if you don't already own the bigger palette, but I still don't like that there are two pink shimmers with only a whole bunch of matte browns. No one needs that many matte brown shadows. 

Bling Boss:

Out of all of the palettes, this was the least interesting to me. You've got three taupe shimmers that look exactly the same, two brown shadows that everyone already has a dozen times over, and then some purple/berry shadows that you also probably have in other palettes. 

This is the least inspiring to me, and while I appreciate that it largely leans cool-toned, which is different for Jaclyn and most brands, it just isn't that interesting of a color selection for me. 

It reminds me a lot of ABH Norvina:

Which, frankly, while I also find this palette to be pretty boring, is a better execution of this color scheme. 

Natasha Denona Lila:

Morphe 35P:

Violet Voss Hashtag:

And Lorac Desert Sunset:

Armed & Gorgeous:

This palette appears to be the most popular, but I really don't see why. It's the same palette that we have seen so much over the past year, except that it has a green color thrown in. 

It is essentially Colourpop Yes, Please!:

With a bronze and a green. 

The shimmers in this palette are a white (which most people have many times over), golds, and a bronze. Most people, even if they aren't makeup hoarders, will have a gold and bronze shimmer. The mattes are even more browns plus a mustard, orange, and green. I assume the the reason this palette is so popular is because of the mustard, orange, and green mattes, but those can easily be purchased as singles from brands like Colourpop and Makeup Geek.  

This palette also reminds me of ABH Subculture: 

And I personally think Subculture executed this color scheme in a more interesting manner. 

Dark Magic:

This is the palette that is most interesting to me because I haven't seen it a dozen times over, and interestingly, it is the only palette that did not sell out. And I assume that's because it is different (and people tend to buy the same thing over and over) and has green and blue shades as opposed to browns, golds, and pinks, which have been popular for years. 

With that said, I still already own all these colors and there is still too much brown. 

This palette reminds me of Melt Gemini:

And Viseart Dark Matte:

And I think both of these palettes executed the color scheme better than Dark Magic. 

So, although I do like the color schemes of the palettes individually when compared to what a lot of the major brands have available, I think as a vault, there are still too many repeated shades, especially browns. 

I counted 14 matte brown shades between all of the palettes, which means that only 26 of the shadows in the 40-shadow vault are not brown. And I can guarantee you that no one needs 14 shades of matte brown. I can also guarantee you that those 14 shadows are not all unique from each other. 

Now I would like to discuss to some of the controversy surrounding this launch. As I mentioned above, the launch of this collection was delayed following negative reviews about the quality and performance of the shadows. 

If you recall, the launch of the bigger Jaclyn Hill palette was also delayed after a picture of a cake surfaced that essentially spoiled the palette's color scheme, and Jaclyn promised that the cake did not have the real color selection. And then the palette finally released and we saw that the cake did, in fact, have the correct color scheme and Jaclyn lied about it. 

Suffice to say that when Jaclyn announced that the vault was going to be delayed due to quality control, the existing palettes were going to be "destroyed" and new ones made, and then those "new" palettes were available for purchase less than two months later, no one believed her. 

And then it surfaced that weeks earlier, following the PR launch of the palette, Becca had sent Morphe a cease and desist letter because the packaging of the vault palettes:

Looked very similar to the Becca and Jaclyn Hill collaboration:

And by "similar," I mean nearly identical. 

When the "new" vault palettes were released, they received negative reviews, and people cited the same problems that people had in the PR launch. People who worked in manufacturing then weighed in to say that it was essentially impossible to remake all the palettes and ship them from China (where the palettes are made), in the time between when the palettes were "destroyed" and when they were available for purchase. 

This led many people to believe that the delay had nothing to do with wanting to improve quality and everything to do with getting a legal plan in place for the eventual lawsuit Morphe launched against Becca, claiming that they have every right to move forward with the design. 

What is so disappointing about this is that Jaclyn Hill went out of her way to say that quality was the issue, acknowledging the problems people noted in the PR launch. She admitted that the quality was bad and that they were fixing it, and it seems pretty clear that they released those same palettes everyone knew was poor quality.  

And, because it has Jaclyn Hill's name on it, they knew they would sell. And they did. 

This relates to my last post about the predatory and manipulative nature of marketing with influencers. Due to the platform of YouTube and social media, the audience feels like they have a more personal and substantial connection with the person than they do with a celebrity they watch on television. And with that comes a certain amount of trust and loyalty that makes people want to "support" the influencer, buy whatever they had a hand in making, or believe them when they swear the quality is great. 

There has been a common thread lately of YouTube personalities in the beauty community sharing their "truth," and Jaclyn Hill was the latest person to jump on this trend. But honestly, I just don't know how much of any of it I believe. Because right now, everyone is acting in their own best interest to protect their current income and lifestyle. And acting that way while presenting it as the "truth" is also very predatory. 

In the end, I think the current beauty industry marketing model is one that preys off of people who are vulnerable and susceptible to addiction as well as people who have fear of missing out or who idolize people with a certain amount of fame. And I can tell you that I was absolutely someone who fit into the first two categories at the height of my addiction. 

But, as consumers, we need to be smart. We know that these palettes are poor quality—the creator blatantly admitted that. So we shouldn't buy them just because Jaclyn would "love it" if we did. 

Personally, while I do like the color scheme of these palettes and think that Jaclyn is very talented at curating a color scheme, the palettes still aren't anything that I haven't seen before and don't already own. Added to that. Morphe just doesn't have great quality—they just picked the right people to pay as advertisers. I already own all of these colors already and have no space in my life to add more palettes that are poor quality, so I won't be buying.  

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Weekly Looks: Kat Von D, Fyrinnae, Morphe, Stila, Natasha Denota, and more

This has been a low-key and nice week for me. The weather finally decided to warm up, and temperatures moved literally from single digits into the 60s! Unfortunately, this seems to be temporary, and temperatures look like they will continually decline until it snows again.

I've also been really productive this week and celebrated that victory every night by watching a new movie that I haven't seen. My favorite of the week was The Money Pit, a 1986 comedy starting Tom Hanks and Shelley Long. I don't think I have ever laughed that hard at a movie, and it took me by complete surprise. If you haven't seen it, I definitely recommend checking it out.

In terms of makeup this week, I still seem to be caught up in my berry/red tones, but I tried to mix it up a bit. As much as I love variety with my makeup, if I'm really drawn to a certain color, I want to be able to use it as much as possible.

Here are the five looks I did this week.

Look 1: Morphe Jaclyn Hill, duped Just Peachy Mattes, and and Elf Jewel Pop

Inner and Outer lid: Moprhe Little Lady

Center of lid: Morphe Faint

Transition: Colourpop The News

Crease: Colourpop Making Moves

Deepen crease: Elf 6 and 7

Eyeliner: NYX Vivid Violet

Look 2: Duped Desert Dusk

Lid: Fyrinnae Rapunzel Had Extensions (pressed)

Transition: Coloured Raine Princess 

Crease: Lime Crime Rebirth

Above crease: Coloured Raine Empress

Brow bone: Too Faced Satin Sheets

Inner corner: Coloured Riane Crown

Look 3: Stila Shimmer and Glow in Kitten and Elf Summer Breeze

Lid: Stila Kitten

Transition: Elf 3

Crease: Ef 5

Deepen crease: Elf 9 and 10

Brow bone: Elf 1

Look 4: Kat Von D Mi Vida Loca Remix

Inner lid: Vinyl

Lid: Misfit

Transition: Noble

Crease: Misfit

Deepen crease: Lemmy

Brow bone: Moulder

Inner corner: Vinyl

Lower lash line: Misfit and Lemmy

Look 5: Duped Modern Renaissance

Lid: Natasha Denona Vintage

Transition: BH Cosmetics berry/mauve

Crease: ABH Love Letter

Above crease: Natasha Denona Nina's Orchid

Brow bone: Viseart white

Inner corner: Make Up For Ever Pearl

Look 1: Morphe Jaclyn Hill, duped Just Peachy Mattes, and and Elf Jewel Pop

(I received the Morphe Jaclyn Hill palette as a gift)

I loved half of this look (Colourpop and Elf) and was really disappointed by the other half (Morphe). In the upper right portion of the Jaclyn Hill palette, there are three pinkish shades. I typically only use the center of the three, called Sissy, which is a gold-pink. It's a situation where I didn't need to apply the other two onto my lid to know I wouldn't like them, so I've always gone for the middle shade. But this week I challenged myself to use the other two, and I wasn't impressed with the results. First, they look indistinguishable on the lid. That's not uncommon with Morphe, but is still disappointing. Second, they didn't look as intense as I wanted, so I had to use them wet. Third, they do not look pink when applied onto the eye. They end up looking quite gold or champagne. Since I chose those shades because I wanted a light pink, I was especially disappointed with that. The Elf palette, however, really impressed me. I only used it to deepen the work I did with my duped Peachy Mattes palette, but the color payoff was fantastic. I'm really looking forward to using this palette more. 

Look 2: Duped Desert Dusk

We all know that I love this palette, so I don't need to harp too much on that. With this look, I tried to make it different from so many of the others I've done, but even with the strong orange shade, it all blends into a seamless coral glow. I think the look came out really beautiful, but it's essentially a look I've done a dozen times over at this point. 

Look 3: Stila Shimmer and Glow in Kitten and Elf Summer Breeze

This was the first time I used a Stila Shimmer and Glow (I had only used the Glitter and Glow products), and as expected, it was really beautiful. I can certainly see this being an ideal product for people who love the concept of the Glitter and Glows but don't want to deal with the glitter fallout. I'll admit that, like all the Stila Magnificent Metals, it was difficult to blend the edge with the powder shadows, but the line was only noticeable in photographs. I never liked the way Stila's pressed shadow in Kitten looked on me, which was always disappointing since it's a classic shade. With the Simmer and Glow, however, I feel like I have found the ideal way to wear Kitten. 

Look 4: Kat Von D Mi Vida Loca Remix

As much as I loved my neutral and sunset looks this week, by the time I got to this day, I was thirsting for some color. Naturally, I took out the Mi Vida Loca Remix palette, and I was immediately drawn to the green section in the bottom right. I don't believe I've ever done a fully green look (especially with greens that are this rich and not part gold), and I was interested to see how I would like it. And I loved it. You can't tell in photographs, but my eyes are the kind that look like they change color depending on what other colors I'm wearing. In photographs, due to the flash, they always look blue, but in person, they range from blue, green, and gray. (Most often they look green with a blue ring.) When I wore this look, the green in my eyes really popped, and I loved how it looked. I haven't done many monochromatic looks, but I liked this so much that I want to try it with blue next. 

Look 5: Duped Modern Renaissance

I wrote a post earlier this week on how I created a duped version of Modern Renaissance that was customized to how I would have made the palette. And with this look, I wanted to draw in two of the shadows I added to the palette that I think would have made fantastic complements to the color scheme. At first I just had Natasha Denona Vintage, the BH Cosmetics berry/mauve, and ABH Love Letter, but I felt it needed a bit of softening, so I added Natasha Denona Nina's Orchid lightly above the crease. I love the hit of a purple glow that it gives. I really liked the look a lot, but then I realized when looking at these photographs that it looks a lot like a look I created withe the Coloured Raine Queen of Hearts palette (before that was depotted and put into other palettes). And that's a nice reminder for me that even though colors may look slightly different, often times they perform nearly identical on the lid.