With the huge success of nearly-billionaire Kylie Jenner's cosmetics company, as well as Rihanna's widely-loved Fenty Beauty, it's not hard to see why every celeb and their dog wants to get in on the makeup game too. The latest person to use their fame (and followers) to try and make a few extra bucks is Bella Thorne, but she hasn't exactly done it with as much grace and vision as her peers.
The former Disney star teased an eyeshadow pallete a month ago with this Instagram post:
The 20-year-old revealed that she would be releasing makeup under her merch brand called Filthy Fangs, which until then was made up of hoodies printed with various grunge-rave motifs, a neon Juul sleeve and a $12 cotton thong with the word "Filthy" emblazoned across the crotch.
It seems a bit chaotic to throw glittering eye-shadow palettes into the mix but hey, she's Bella Thorne and prides herself on doing whatever the f*ck she wants. Only... her awkward attempt to break into the makeup world has been met with a lot of backlash after it appeared that she was ripping off a popular black-owned beauty brand. Bella's two palettes looked very similar, and retail for more than double the price.
Like... sure, Bella, your palettes have nice colours, an impressive shimmer, and definitely work with your ~aesthetic~, but each of them only has nine shades. And when you're selling your "Ocean Drive" palette for $50 and "South Beach" for $60 when Kylie's 14-colour palettes are only $44, and Rihanna's 16-colour ones are $59... it's bit cheeky, don't you think?
Well, that's not even the worst of it.
After they supposedly sold out after a day, people started pointing out that Bella's palettes looked remarkably similar to those from Juvia's Place. The colour combos, the neat 3x3 grid, the minimal interior of the packaging... there certainly are more similarities than there are differences.
Take a look for yourself (and note the pricetags).
Here are Bella's "Filthy" palettes:
And here are the latest ones from Juvia's Place:
Bella clocked on to what people were saying and was quick to defend herself on Twitter, shifting the blame to purportedly having the "same manufacturer" and whining about women not supporting women. We hear you Bella, but making carbon copies of someone else's product and selling them for more than twice as much isn't cool.
She responded on Twitter by writing "I betu we have the same manufacturer.im suppose to look up every pallet ever made? [sic]" and “Can’t women support women :( sad."
She then attempted a joke saying that "if" she were to copy any of them, it would be a different palette.
A representative from Juvia's Place made their own comment, telling the Hollywood Reporter that they were being "light hearted" about the "painful and awkward" situation.
“We have no connection with [Thorne’s brand Filthy Fangs]. We are not affiliated with them," they said. "Yes we are aware of the painful and awkward similarities. It’s obvious they have done little to no research or they have bluntly stolen our concept which is unacceptable. We believe in originality and the brand you have mentioned lacks that. We have chosen to be light hearted about the situation, after all makeup is supposed to be fun!!”
Yikes!
Maybe no shortcuts next time, Bella?