Beauty guru James Charles has issued an apology to TV personality Lauren Conrad, following his public rant after receiving a PR box of empty makeup products from her new range.
Earlier in August, James had already come under fire for criticizing celebrity makeup brands when he subtweeted singer Alicia Keys for releasing a “makeup brand” that later turned out to only be a skincare range.
He publicly named Alicia as being the celebrity he’d subtweeted, and apologized for considering the new line to be a “cash grab.”
James also said: “It wasn’t [his] place to gatekeep this industry.” He called his previous tweets “childish” and insisted he is “not the gatekeeper of makeup.”
However, on August 20 James uploaded an Instagram story in which he berated a PR box that was sent to him by a “new makeup brand from somebody who has no business having a makeup brand.”
He showed fans an unsealed tube of what was meant to be highlighter with no product inside it. He also demonstrated that there’s “no actual ink in the eyeliner pen.” The beauty influencer ends with a plea to “stop making makeup brands!”
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This time the turnaround for an apology was much quicker, only a few hours later uploading a written apology on his Instagram story, naming Lauren Conrad publicly.
He says he’s “been on the verge of tears all day” and that opening the half-hearted PR package was the “icing on the cake” for weird things to happen that day, ultimately causing the public outburst.
“My stories talking about the products were supposed to be funny but they just came across as nasty,” he continues. According to James, he and Lauren “spoke privately about the misunderstanding and are both good.”
For now, the frustrated rant remains up on his Instagram story alongside his apology in an apparent move to remain transparent about his mistakes.