Latest / Mini Scroll / Beauty TikTok in shambles over dupe drama | Catherine Ebs apology + Ariana Grande & Ricky Alvarezđź©·
Transcript
- 0:00Coming up today on Mini Scroll, the beauty creator under fire
- 0:04for her Charlotte Tilbury Duper view, Katherine Ebbs addresses
- 0:08the grocery store scandal, and Ariana Grande is reportedly back
- 0:12with an X Hi everyone. Welcome to Mini Scroll, the
- 0:17daily Internet culture podcast bringing you the biggest stories
- 0:20from social media, the creator economy and the digital space.
- 0:23Every Monday through Thursday and sometimes Fridays.
- 0:26I'm your host, Lauren Meisner, the founder of the Australian
- 0:29youth digital media brand Centennial World.
- 0:33Welcome back to Mini Scroll, everyone.
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- 1:17All right, let's get into the stories for today.
- 1:21So the first story that I have for you guys today is a beauty
- 1:24creator Erin Parsons is facing backlash after her controversial
- 1:28dupe take. So makeup artist and beauty
- 1:31creator Erin Parsons has disappointed fans after posting
- 1:34a video that started out as a Charlotte Tilbury dupe test and
- 1:37ended in her suggesting that low income adults should get sent
- 1:41influencers leftover PR. So Aaron is a creator with over
- 1:453,000,000 followers. She calls herself a vintage
- 1:48cosmetics collector and has been in the industry for a very long
- 1:51time. According to WWD quote, Parsons
- 1:54kicked off her beauty career working at Lancome and Mac
- 1:57cosmetics counters before moving to New York and assisting Pat
- 2:00McGrath during fashion weeks and photo shoots for several years,
- 2:04becoming Gigi Hadid's go to makeup artist and then in 2016
- 2:07joining Maybelline New York as the brand's global MUA.
- 2:11That is an iconic resume. OK so 2 days ago Aaron posted a
- 2:16video comparing iconic Charlotte Tilbury lip products with a dupe
- 2:20specifically from Kiko Milano. The reason she made this video
- 2:22in the 1st place was in response to an interview with Charlotte
- 2:27Tilbury herself that the BBC did in early July.
- 2:30So in this interview, Charlotte said when you quote dupe, you
- 2:34dupe the consumer because the consumer is not getting the same
- 2:38quality with a dupe as the original.
- 2:41You dupe, you dupe the consumer. That's not the quality.
- 2:47I'm formula that you're going to get this amazing performance
- 2:49that empowers people to look and feel that way.
- 2:52So if you can do it, try baby, try darling, It's it's on, it's
- 2:57on, it's on. The game is on but I have not
- 3:00seen it yet. In a time where people don't
- 3:02have that much money and they think they can get a sort of
- 3:04Charlotte Tilbury esque look for a fraction of the price, why
- 3:07wouldn't they buy that product? Because you just said it an
- 3:09esque look, it's not Charlotte Tilbury and it's not the product
- 3:13and it's not performing the way that my products do.
- 3:15I have looked at those tubes and they do not.
- 3:17So by the way, if I could do them for those prices, I would.
- 3:20This is definitely not the first time that Charlotte Tilbury has
- 3:22addressed dupe culture. Her brand is one of the most
- 3:25duped in the industry because everyone is obsessed with the
- 3:29formulas and her products but they are so pricey so she has
- 3:33been vocal about the impact of dupe culture before anyways.
- 3:36Off the back of this particular interview, however, Nina Poole
- 3:39who is another massive beauty creator.
- 3:42Her whole thing is to kind of like disrupt the luxury beauty
- 3:45space by educating her audience. So Nina made a video responding
- 3:50to the sentiment from Charlotte. In this video, which has reached
- 3:53almost 6 million views at the time of recording, Nina explains
- 3:57why Charlotte's take that dupes are duping the consumer because
- 3:59you will never get the same quality is essentially untrue,
- 4:04given that some Charlotte Tilbury products are
- 4:06manufactured by the same labs as her.
- 4:09Quote UN quote dupes. Charlotte Tilbury continues to
- 4:11get on the Internet. She has a very arrogant air
- 4:14about her certain documents like bills of landing or public
- 4:18information in the United States.
- 4:20So through a little bit of digging, I was able to find out
- 4:23who Charlotte Tilbury's manufacturers are for certain
- 4:26products. One of those products being a
- 4:29lip liner pencil, the lip cheat. Now if you didn't know this, a
- 4:32manufacturer called Schwann is one of the leading manufacturers
- 4:36for lip liners. Here is direct proof that
- 4:38Charlotte Tilbury does in fact get their lip liner pencils
- 4:42manufactured by Schwann. I'm going to show you two
- 4:44different brands lip liners and I want you to tell me which one
- 4:48is which exactly. Oh, but the plot thickens.
- 4:52These lip liners are from Charlotte Tilbury and a brand
- 4:56called Kiko Milano. They are from Italy and they
- 4:59started in 1997. Their lip liner pencils are also
- 5:02manufactured by Schwan, the leading manufacturer of lip
- 5:05liner pencils. So what I could gather from all
- 5:07of this information and paperwork is they are tweaking
- 5:10these products just a little bit and then tacking on the extra 30
- 5:14or $40 and telling you that you are the one being duped if you
- 5:18want to purchase anything that is similar.
- 5:20To their product. They're also claiming that they
- 5:22are innovative, that they are behind all of the science.
- 5:25And that's what really bothers me because there are cosmetic
- 5:27chemists that work for these manufacturers that are bright,
- 5:31talented people. But people like Charlotte
- 5:33Tilbury state that they are in fact the ones that are
- 5:35revolutionary. I want to make it abundantly
- 5:38clear that I am not trying to argue with anyone that is a
- 5:41consumer of prestige makeup products.
- 5:43This video is for everyone that's been made to feel less.
- 5:48OK, so that was the entire context behind Aaron's video,
- 5:52Charlotte's interview, and then Nina's response video.
- 5:56They were both going fairly viral on like beauty TikTok, so
- 5:59Aaron jumped in to compare Charlotte Tilbury products to
- 6:02Kiko dupes. Aaron's video was relatively pro
- 6:05Charlotte Tilbury, which already bothered some people who were
- 6:08following along from Nina's video.
- 6:10However, what really turned people off was how Aaron ended
- 6:14her video of. Every color of the Kiko lip
- 6:16liners. So can I dupe my favorite
- 6:19Charlotte Tilbury lip liners? Both gorgeous.
- 6:22Not a dupe. So I have some thoughts on this
- 6:24with Charlotte Tilbury. She sounded quite angry,
- 6:27rightfully so. She was one of the biggest
- 6:28makeup bars in the world. That is not an easy job, let me
- 6:31tell you. And then when she came out with
- 6:32her line, it was innovative, it was unique.
- 6:35You have to know that your products are going to be duped
- 6:37in general, everything. It happens to every single
- 6:39brand. I think what everyone was upset
- 6:41about is the fact that she said you can't get a Charlotte
- 6:44Tilbury look with drugstore products, which is absolutely
- 6:46not true Shelby and disproves that every time she does her
- 6:49makeup. The thing is, I hear this term a
- 6:51lot. There are people that cannot buy
- 6:53groceries out there. If you cannot buy groceries, you
- 6:56cannot buy drugstore makeup. Who is going to choose lip liner
- 7:00over food? So that point is kind of moot.
- 7:04So she brings up the grocery store thing because obviously an
- 7:07argument is that cost of living is so high right now and
- 7:10sometimes dupes are the better option because they cost less, a
- 7:14creator named Jazz wrote. I think a better point is that
- 7:17dupes allow people to also buy food.
- 7:20If you have $30 a dupe allows you to buy that $10 lip liner
- 7:23and food versus high end which just doesn't.
- 7:26She has some good products but should redirect her energy on
- 7:29her trash packaging. And then Aaron responded.
- 7:31But that is called budgeting, not that you are unable to buy
- 7:34food. The term people keep saying is
- 7:37can't buy groceries. Someone else wrote I have to
- 7:39disagree with you about not being able to buy groceries.
- 7:41Meaning you cannot buy lip liner.
- 7:43Every person deserves to hold on to dignity and if wearing a
- 7:46beautiful color on your lips gives you dignity and it cost a
- 7:49dollar as opposed to $28.00 and that person can, will, and
- 7:52should choose that. I know I would sacrifice a
- 7:55gallon of milk or a carton of eggs to buy a product that will
- 7:57last a month or more that will help me feel my best need.
- 8:00A pool helps people who would otherwise be left out of the
- 8:02conversation be a part of it, or at the very least have options
- 8:05available to them that would otherwise not be.
- 8:08And then Aaron responded to that.
- 8:09Who said Nina wasn't helpful? I also feel like this comment is
- 8:12touching on the lipstick effect. It's like when economic times
- 8:14are tough, people still spend money on cosmetics.
- 8:19I don't know if that's necessarily true anymore.
- 8:21I actually think that I read that the lipstick effect is
- 8:24actually no longer in effect as strongly as it used to be.
- 8:28But you know, throughout time, typically people still would
- 8:31quote, UN quote, splurge on cosmetics and like little things
- 8:34like that that make you feel better, Like when you can't
- 8:36afford a vacation or you can't afford, I don't know, a new car
- 8:40or, you know, these kind of bigger ticket items, a new TV,
- 8:42whatever. It's like people will still
- 8:44spend money on those little things like this commenter said,
- 8:47that make you feel good in these tough times.
- 8:50And so often that will be make up.
- 8:51And then someone named Alyssa wrote.
- 8:53I can't put my finger on it but this feels icky to me.
- 8:55I think maybe you're misunderstanding why people are
- 8:57upset and perhaps you're taking the grocery comment way too
- 9:00literally. There may be a disconnect on
- 9:03your part as a very successful influencer and make a
- 9:05professional. At the end of the day $28.00 pre
- 9:08tax for a lip liner is insane. And then Aaron responded.
- 9:11I've been without. I stole makeup when I was
- 9:13younger. Not proud of it.
- 9:14But saying you can't buy groceries to me means it
- 9:16wouldn't matter whether it was high end or drugstore.
- 9:19Your priorities are sustenance. But I hate to hear that and
- 9:21think there should be some way to have it all.
- 9:24OK, Whether you agree with the grocery store comments, the
- 9:27people saying, you know, I would gladly give up XYZ to buy a lip
- 9:31liner, I mean, that's definitely not going to be everybody's
- 9:34position. So whether you agree with Aaron
- 9:36in this situation or you agree with some of these commenters, I
- 9:39do want to say that we see this kind of sentiment or like this
- 9:42kind of response from a lot of creators, celebrities, wealthy
- 9:45people that they used to go without.
- 9:48And they know what it's like to be struggling.
- 9:50And they kind of often use their past like financial situation as
- 9:54a defense as to why they can't be criticized for having an out
- 9:58of touch take because they too used to be like us.
- 10:02But I think what is often missing from here is that people
- 10:06do lose a lot of that perspective once they achieve
- 10:10the money and success that they are trying to achieve.
- 10:13And sometimes that success can actually make you less
- 10:16empathetic to people's circumstances because you almost
- 10:18start to see yourself as an example of somebody who worked
- 10:21hard and like made it out the other side.
- 10:24And so the attitude then is like, well, if I could do it,
- 10:28that means anyone who is disenfranchised can also do it.
- 10:32And if they haven't done it and are complaining about things
- 10:35like the cost of living, then that is a personal failing on
- 10:38their part rather than the result of a combination of so
- 10:42many different factors coming together to allow that person to
- 10:45succeed. And I'm not saying that there's
- 10:47not a lot of hard work involved in that, but there are so many
- 10:50reasons why some people will never be able to get to that
- 10:54place. And I think it's like really
- 10:56one-dimensional for the argument to consistently be like, I know
- 11:00what this was like. I used to be you 2 and using
- 11:04that as a defense as to like why they can't be out of touch.
- 11:07OK, so then let's talk about the PR program idea that she
- 11:11suggested because that has also faced some scrutiny, some
- 11:15positivity. Some people are like, I agree
- 11:16with this. And this is where PR, you know,
- 11:19leftover PR or unused PR should go.
- 11:22And then other people took this in bad faith, feeling like she
- 11:24was saying that poor people should be given leftover or used
- 11:28influencer PR it. Brings me to an idea, a proposal
- 11:33if you will, and I think Charlotte Tilbury should be the
- 11:35first to donate this idea. But basically, why don't we have
- 11:38a Toys for Tots for adults? Why is there not some sort of
- 11:42program that takes all the the PR that US influencers get?
- 11:47I give away 99% of it and it is so much so I can't imagine what
- 11:51other influencers get. I know my agency gets a lot of
- 11:54PR stores could come into this, brands could come into this, but
- 11:57a sort of a way to just give back anyone of his low income.
- 12:01You fill out a form and there is a box sent to your House of
- 12:05makeup that you are asking for. Now, I started a nonprofit for
- 12:09the Research and Beauty History Archive.
- 12:12I will be launching this soon, and I hope to use some of the
- 12:16donations to create a program like this because I know it's
- 12:19not a necessity. But if you want makeup, you
- 12:22should be able to have it. So, Charlotte, I hope you're
- 12:25listening. And I don't think that's
- 12:26actually what she meant. Like I imagine she meant the PR
- 12:30that she gets gifted or that influencers get gifted that goes
- 12:34on opened. But the internets reaction I
- 12:37believe to this was colored by her previous statements about
- 12:40the groceries and like defending Charlotte Tilbury.
- 12:42Finally, she did double down in the comments, which really upset
- 12:46some people. So she called someone elitist
- 12:49for saying they wouldn't want to receive donated makeup products
- 12:52from an influencer's leftover PR.
- 12:54She wrote why would you say no to free makeup?
- 12:56I don't get it. Now you sound elitist.
- 12:59It was a gesture of humanity. Again, I do not think that she
- 13:02was suggesting that we take use PRPR that's been tested.
- 13:07Like the amount of product that these creators receive, it's
- 13:13unimaginable. I mean, we've all seen PR halls,
- 13:15right? Like there is no way that they
- 13:17are testing all of that, that they're opening all of that,
- 13:18that they're using all of that. I mean, at the end of the day,
- 13:21it goes where, right? And we see a lot of declutter
- 13:24videos where influencers are doing PR hauls and decluttering
- 13:27and sending it to like women's shelters and stuff.
- 13:29So this is just like another version, I suppose of what she
- 13:33is suggesting here. All right.
- 13:35And the next story that I have for you guys today is Catherine
- 13:37ABS has officially addressed her grocery store video in a new
- 13:40TikTok. How is this the third update
- 13:43that I have about Katherine Ebbs and her grocery store Tiktok?
- 13:48I have no idea. But for a recap, last week
- 13:51influencer Katherine Ebbs went viral after she posted a video
- 13:53shopping in a quote UN quote small town grocery store for the
- 13:564th of July. She got a lot of backlash for
- 13:59her attitude throughout the video.
- 14:01She was basically making fun of the so many people made fun of
- 14:04me on Tiktok. For this I say produce.
- 14:07Produce. No, I say produce.
- 14:09That is how we say it in Canada because at first I was like,
- 14:11wait, I've lived in Australia for 10 years.
- 14:14I was like, it's my husband who's Australian.
- 14:15I'm like say this word and he kind of says it like obviously
- 14:18with an Australian accent, but he kind of says it like me.
- 14:20But I'm like, OK, that's not where I've fully gotten it from.
- 14:22I'm like, maybe my accents are blending here.
- 14:25And so many people in the TikTok comments were like, I can't
- 14:28believe that you just said that word like that.
- 14:30And I was like, wait, that's so weird.
- 14:31So I responded to some comments being like, is this weird?
- 14:34I'm so confused. And then I had Canadians
- 14:36responding me like, no, I'm Canadian and I say it like that
- 14:39too. And I was like, OK, thankfully
- 14:41it's just people who have never heard it said like that, I guess
- 14:44not realizing that we can say it like that too.
- 14:46So anyways, making fun of the produce produce saying she felt
- 14:52like she was in a simulation and was saying she felt like they
- 14:55should just order their meals for the weekend instead of
- 14:57buying food from this store. It was a very like stuck up
- 15:01video. So the grocery chain ended up
- 15:03using this moment to respond on social media in a very funny
- 15:06way. They did a photo dump titled
- 15:09POV. You're entering the grocery
- 15:10store simulation and now Catherine has responded with a
- 15:14dedicated video saying that she can look back and see now that
- 15:18her stress from the day was coming through in that video.
- 15:21I took the week off to just like kind of be with my family while
- 15:23they were in town. Looking back the video I posted
- 15:28walking in the grocery store, did I 1000% have a bratty bad
- 15:31attitude? Yes.
- 15:32I was very very, very frustrated with the day.
- 15:35I spent weeks to make sure that everything went to plan and US
- 15:41girly pops putting all the pressure on our shoulders to
- 15:44make sure family birthday parties, family parties, family
- 15:48weekends, family trips, everything goes well.
- 15:51I felt like that day was just a simulation.
- 15:54I was like everything that could have gone wrong went wrong.
- 15:58On the flip side, watching it back through the lens of others,
- 16:01I am now well aware that my day stressors were not reflecting in
- 16:07the video. It was just, again, just a bad
- 16:10attitude, bad energy. And now when I look back, I'm
- 16:13like, I cringe because it's like my intent versus the impact are
- 16:17miles and miles and miles apart. And that was just, that's not
- 16:20me. That's not me.
- 16:21That video does not reflect my own true character, my own true
- 16:25thoughts. I come from way, way, way less
- 16:30than what I have now. So I know what it's like to not
- 16:34be able to feed your family, going to bed hungry.
- 16:38And so again, that like that just was the furthest thing for
- 16:41my intention. And I'm like, when I look back,
- 16:44I'm like, if people were to like, I wouldn't have posted
- 16:47that if like that was what I knew was landing because my eyes
- 16:50was the stressors of the day. Not that it's an excuse, but I
- 16:53hope it's something that people can understand where I was
- 16:56coming from. I do want to say the bullying
- 17:00that's come from this has been so unbelievably eye opening.
- 17:04I have seen people online get ripped to shreds before but to
- 17:07personally experience it. Whoa, whoa, whoa.
- 17:11I don't condone the bullying. I don't condone a lot of the
- 17:13things that have been said and done.
- 17:15I wish the people that took this moment for their own virality,
- 17:19if they meant to make such an impact and they wanted to make
- 17:22such an impact, I wish they would have been like, hey, let's
- 17:25like let's use her name for the cloud, but like let's use it for
- 17:28impact. And impact is every single
- 17:30person does deserve fresh produce and not bleached eggs,
- 17:37not rotten cucumbers, like everyone deserves that.
- 17:39But reflecting and like seeing it through the lens of people
- 17:42who are like, I always have people in my household that
- 17:45can't eat. I now I know how bad that looks.
- 17:48And I again, that it's just, it truly was not my intention and I
- 17:52am very sorry. I'm actually surprised that she
- 17:55responded to this, especially so many days later.
- 17:59I feel like it's been at least a week and this story has
- 18:01absolutely blown over by now. So I'm surprised that she chose
- 18:04to like reignite this. I understand it got so big, it
- 18:08got really, really big. So I understand wanting to
- 18:11address it, but I am just surprised that she decided to,
- 18:13like, open this up again when it feels like, in my opinion, in my
- 18:17world, it was well and truly blown over.
- 18:20All right. And the last story that I have
- 18:22for you guys today is Ariana Grande and Ricky Alvarez are
- 18:25seemingly back together. So Ariana has seemingly
- 18:28rekindled her relationship with Ricky Alvarez, who she was
- 18:31dating back in 2015. I saw a post online that was
- 18:34like, this is what I mean when I say we have to bring back 2016.
- 18:37And yes, exactly. So romance rumor started
- 18:41swirling after the pair were spotted together recently, with
- 18:44Ricky attending some Eternal Sunshine Tour shows and in
- 18:47paparazzi shots. Ariana also started changing the
- 18:50lyrics and thank you next during her tour, indicating that her
- 18:54relationship with Ricky had changed.
- 18:55The original lyric was Wrote some songs about Ricky.
- 18:58Now I listen and laugh just like Loki.
- 19:00So savage. And on the tour she has made a
- 19:03couple of changes, including wrote some songs about Ricky.
- 19:06They still really slap. Wrote some songs about Ricky.
- 19:09I know he's still got my back. And then on July 13th, she
- 19:12changed it to wrote some songs about Ricky.
- 19:15We always find our way back. Many took this as confirmation
- 19:18that the two were back together. And TMZ has since reported that
- 19:21their sources tell them the two are dating but taking it slow.
- 19:24OK, to our viewers, I have Pump on my lap.
- 19:27She started bopping around and wanted to come up.
- 19:29So everybody say hi to little Pump.
- 19:32So social media is now fixated on their lore and this is the
- 19:37rundown. And of course, I had to tap
- 19:39Annabelle in for this because she is Ari's number one fan.
- 19:42So Ricky was actually a dancer on Ariana's first world tour,
- 19:46the Honeymoon Tour, which is for the album My Everything.
- 19:49They would go on to date after Ariana and Big Sean broke up.
- 19:52Ricky is believed to be much of the inspiration of Ariana's
- 19:55album Dangerous Woman. He was also there for Donut
- 19:58Gate, which is very important information.
- 20:03Many fans believe that Ariana's ex manager Scooter Braun was not
- 20:06a fan of Ricky, which makes a lot of them like him even more
- 20:10so. According to a Reddit post on
- 20:12the R slash Ari heads subreddit 1 User explained quote In
- 20:15February 2016, Ariana fired Scooter Braun, her manager on
- 20:19Dangerous Woman at the bonus track Jason Song is about this
- 20:22and many of Dangerous Woman singles underperformed.
- 20:25Braun attributed this firing to a quote bad boyfriend
- 20:29influencing her decisions in interviews about the firing.
- 20:32So while the 2 who did seemingly have a rough breakup, they
- 20:36appeared to become friends again over the years.
- 20:38He was even one of the tour photographers for the Sweetener
- 20:40Tour in 2019. Nevertheless, fans do seem to be
- 20:44excited that the pair are back together.
- 20:47Pumpkin, she's going crazy on my lap.
- 20:50OK, it's OK, she's ready to go home.
- 20:55And you know what? Fair enough, girl, it's been a
- 20:57long, stressful day at the office, hasn't it?
- 21:00Anyways guys, I have to get my dog home because she is freaking
- 21:04out but I love you guys. Thank you so much for listening.
- 21:07Please remember to rate, review, and subscribe.
- 21:10I will talk to you guys tomorrow and reminder, we have a sponsor
- 21:13tomorrow so please show them some love.
- 21:15OK bye. Centennial World Podcast Network
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