Jeffree Star The Love Sick Collection: Velour Lip Scrub in Cherry Soda and Chocolate Covered Strawberry Review + My Personal Experience And Thoughts On Bullying & Racism

I've been watching Jeffree Star (on Snapchat, Twitter and YouTube) for a couple of years now. I just sit back and observe people sometimes. Through the years, his behavior has been an UP and DOWN roller coaster, of both GOOD and BAD things. Let's start off with the GOOD. Jeffree Star gives back (donates) to a lot of charities & causes. He gives away both ULTA & SEPHORA gift cards to his viewers. He gives BRUTALLY honest reviews on products and great recommendations. I personally learned about Bobbi Brown's Vitamin Enriched Face Base through his Snapchat Stories and it is one of my favorites. There's no doubt that he is an entertainer and can capture your attention. Now the BAD, and I mean REALLY BAD! In his past (MySpace days), he used the N-word many times, even calling a woman an Ape (hollering at a woman walking down the street - video here). He uses Hoe and the B-Word constantly. He's called someone a "poor mexican". It's ok if Jeffree gives brutal reviews, but when a guy received a damaged product (shattered highlighter) from Jeffree's own product line and posted it online ... Jeffree criticized him for doing so, instead of contacting customer service. Jeffree has gotten into it with other YouTubers such as MakeupByShayla. With that situation, he states he was at a beauty event where he heard MakeupByShayla tell another girl her face was dis-proportioned and that she needed lip filler. If true, that wasn't nice of MakeupbyShayla to say such a horrible thing (but she denies she said anything). Jeffree Star stated he doesn't like bullies or liars (I think we can all agree on that) but he turns around and calls MakeupByShayla an INSECURE RAT, CUNT, HOE. You can't resolve bad behavior with bad behavior! He goes on to say (about her), you're an "irrelevant ... a little instagram ... a little makeup person...that no one really cares about" (videos here). He then calls her a BULLY! Again, she's wrong if he heard her say such things to that girl, but she's not little or irrelevant if she collaborated with Tarte on her Makeup By Shayla Contour palette. I can't believe he used those words, because before anyone is BIG, they're little (even him, c'mon Jeffree)...but NO ONE IS IRRELEVANT...NO ONE. Since all of these things, he made an apology video titled RACISM (June, 2017). He states, "In these videos, I say some really disgusting, vile, nasty and embarrassing things...It makes me sick to my stomach".

 

I'm African-American (I'm Black!). I have experienced RACISM & BULLYING. This is going to shock you, but my very first experience with racism/bullying was from MY OWN RACE! I went to nursery school in Gainesville, Florida and in my class there were about 4-5 African-Americans and 20+ Caucasians. We all  played and got along. We never paid attention to color. My mother & father moved back to New Orleans, because her parents were getting older and needed help. For Kindergarten, I was enrolled in a predominately black Elementary School. I remember one day, sitting on a bench during recess. My best friend was absent that day. The Kindergarten teacher went inside to get something. Three dark skin (African-American) older girls (they had to be in 5th or 6th grade) came up to me, put their fingers on the side of their eyes and pulled the skin to make their eyes look like Asian eyes. They then went on to say "Squinchy eyes...Squinchy eyes". I remember putting my head down and looking at the ground. I didn't cry. I kept thinking, why are these "older" girls picking on a Kindergarten-er. It happened really fast and they ran away (they didn't want to get caught). I thought the entire situation was really SAD! I never told my parents of the situation and honestly, this is the first time I've ever told anyone. Everything is really either your, black or white in the South. I'm very fair (both of my grandmothers were half-black/half-white), but I'm NOT CREOLE (light skin New Orlean-ians). My family is NOT ORIGINALLY FROM THE SOUTH (but from Virginia, South Carolina and Ohio). Boy were they surprised to see that my grandfather was a dark-skinned man! The only other thing that happened in Elementary School was being called FOUR EYES a couple of times, because I wore glasses. But Thank God, nothing else. I counteracted all of those things, by being on the A and B Honor Roll from K-8th Grade. So they constantly saw this squinchy eyed, eyeglass wearing girl walk up to receive awards. In college, I worked for an exclusive bridal shop on St. Charles Avenue. I was the only black working there! An elderly rich Caucasian lady with a walker came in with an African-American woman helping her. She needed a dress for a wedding. So my manager said, Kim will help you. The older lady, pulled the manager to the side and stated she didn't want me to help her because "black people don't have any taste". My manager was shocked at what she said and pulled me to the side. I think she was doubly shocked at my reaction. I said, that's fine. Again, I felt SAD for her! Here this woman has an African American woman HELPING HER get to whatever appointments she has for the day. PLUS I FOUND OUT SHE WAS JEWISH! How did I know? She had the last name of one of the most popular drugstore chains here in New Orleans at the time! I couldn't believe I just had a Jewish person be Racist! That's unfathomable to me! Another part-time job I had in college, I worked at Kinko's (copy & mailing place). I worked at the register. An elderly Caucasian man would come in with a couple of sheets of paper (once a week) with a post it note on them. He would tap his finger on the note with his head down. I would make the copies and come back. I would tell him how much. He would take out his money and place it on the counter. I would take the money and hand him his change. Well he would then tap his finger on the counter (motioning me to put the money on the counter). You guys he didn't want to touch my hand because I was black. I would put the money on the counter and he would take it. AGAIN, I thought this was so SAD! And he always kept his head down. I looked at him, but he could never look at me. We went through this same song & dance week after week, but I was always kind and wished him a very good day. He would say nothing. Another story! I went out several times with a guy in college. He was Creole. He was nice, but I never fell in love with him. His mother was really cool! Loved her. Well, we went out like 3 ... THREE times LOL and then he said his grandmother wanted to meet me. That my mom & I should come over one Sunday to meet her. So I said ok. It kind of threw me. When I got there, the grandmother LOVED my mom & me. She had me to twirl around (like an inspection) and said oh she's perfect! I looked at my mom, we stayed a bit and I told her on the way back home I am getting out of this! You guys I had heard in the past that Creoles had a paper bag test. If you were darker than a paper bag, you couldn't marry into their family. I didn't know it was true! His grandmother inspected me like I was some CATTLE! I thought it was absurd. I started going out with other people and he got the message. Two more stories! My first professional job, I was an Environmental Trainer. One of my duties was giving Environmental orientation to new hires. This one guy in class decided he didn't want to pay attention and tried to sleep. I warned him several times. He mumbled, something about he doesn't take orders from niggers. I told him, you don't have to like me...I could care less...but I am responsible for your life and these other gentlemen's lives while they work out here. That it is a dangerous place and I will not have him jeopardize himself or other people by not listening or following protocol. I put him out the class. He came back the next day, before everyone arrived...walked up to me....looked me in the eyes and said I want to apologize to you and I am really sorry. I accepted his apology and told him I'm here to keep everyone working SAFELY. Lastly, I was invited to an IT Cosmetics Happy Hour and Masterclass. I was so excited to receive an invitation, but I almost turned it down! Why?, just as I received the invitation THERE WAS A LOT OF ANGER about them only having 7 shades of foundation and Jamie Kern Lima's "inclusive" speech. I knew 7 shades wasn't enough and I couldn't even find a shade that matched me. So I understood! I was very concerned if I accepted collaborating with IT Cosmetics would black people dislike me and/or was IT Cosmetics using me as a token black girl. Well, IT Cosmetics treated me VERY nicely and let me try nearly ALL of their products for free and give my HONEST OPINION! They increased their foundation selection to 12. Is it enough? Not with other companies offering 30-40 selections. But it's a start! I didn't shut them down. I gave them a chance. These are MY STORIES! I've been subjected to bad behavior from many races! Despite it all, I have NOTHING against Caucasians, African-Americans (dark skin or light skin blacks), Africans, Creoles, Asians, Hispanics or ANYONE! There are good & bad apples in all races. I believe in judging a person on their individual CHARACTER, rather than their color!

Listening to Jeffree in those videos and what he had to say really made me sick. Those words just flowed out of his mouth with ease. He has revealed bad situations in his childhood, teenage and adult life! It is fucked up! There was a lot of pain and because he was in pain, he inflicted pain on others through his words. YOU CAN'T DO THAT! In his apology video, he recognizes the horrible things he's said to others! Once you recognize a problem, then you should know NOT TO REPEAT THAT BEHAVIOR! That's what I'm looking for in Jeffree right now! I can't decisively say he has truly changed. I'm continuing to watch his ACTIONS & WORDS! I wrote him. I sent him a message on Instagram. In high school (Ursuline -Catholic all girl HS) we had an annual weekend retreat. We would go to a neutral place and with the support of school counselors, teachers, psychiatrists... if we had problems with anyone we were encouraged to explain to the other person what hurt us and resolve things. I explained this to him and that he could do it with other YouTubers and Beauty Influencers that he's had problems with. That he could do a series on his channel. I think something like this would promote HEALING in the beauty community that is so needed. He has a HUGE platform of followers and it would bring so many people together. He could even come up with a makeup collection that promotes POSITIVITY, Positive VIBES, Non-Bullying etc. He didn't respond to my message. But that's ok. Sometimes no response is still a good response. I hope he reads it or one of his assistants lets him read it. I think it would help heal so many people. There's been so much bad behavior in the beauty community. I didn't buy anything from Kat Von D for the longest, because she slept with Sandra Bullock's husband (Jesse James). He then cheated on Kat Von D. We all make horrible mistakes and I have since bought from Kat Von D. The founder of Jouer Cosmetics made an insensitive remark about a homeless man and apologized. Tarte Cosmetics with their racial slur meme (Asians) and poor shade selections for African American women. In 2014, I talked about Benefit's poor foundation shade selection. Honestly, the past couple of years in the beauty community has been really stressful. When I first started blogging it was FUN! That's why I haven't ventured into YouTube because it can be hostile. If I do, I'm thinking about no comments, but then I say that's not fair. It gets me down. I'm being very cautious about brands now. I haven't cancelled any brand YET, but I'm leery about a few. I've been curious about Jeffree Star's lip scrubs. I purchased a couple. Below are my thoughts.

Sweet-Bittersweet-NotSweet

supersweet(run & buy it) sweet(really good,buy it) bittersweet(ok, issues)not sweet(not good,don't buy this stuff) 
  Jeffree Star's Lip Scrubs are Sweet

Review: Jeffree Star's lip scrubs ($12) are REALLY GOOD! The outer box has the company's name & logo on it, with a cute picture of the flavored lip scrub housed inside. These two lip scrubs are from his Valentine's Day Love Sick Collection (still available for purchase). One is Cherry Soda, with a delightful picture of a glass with striped straw, square ice cubes and cherries inside the glass. The other is Chocolate Covered Strawberries, which has a strawberry drenched and dripping in chocolate. Both taste (yes, you can eat these) just as described. His lip scrubs really exfoliate the lips well. Why did I give this a Sweet rating and not a Supersweet rating? After you exfoliate your lips with this lip scrub with your fingers, you will feel something creamy (clear) on both your fingers and lips. It looks and feels like CLEAR LIP BALM. I've never experienced this feeling before. You can use your wash cloth to remove the balm feeling from your fingertips. When you rinse your lips, don't wipe away that clear balm layer. That is the moisturizing factor! If you wipe your lips, then expect very little moisture (just exfoliated lips and you'll have to apply lip balm afterwards). This may bother some people and for some it may not. I just wanted you to know. What I would prefer is 1. for the lip scrub to exfoliate and wash away cleanly or 2. exfoliate and moisturize without that "I just applied a clear lip balm to my lips feeling" 3. for him to come up with (separately) both the lip scrub & a matching lip balm of the same flavor 4. I show pictures of BOTH lip scrubs below and as you can see they are the SAME COLOR. Mentally it worked well for Cherry Soda, but for Chocolate Covered Strawberry I wish it was a different color (dark red or chocolate color) to distinguish. But he does show a picture of a soda and a chocolate covered strawberry on the outside of the jar to distinguish the two. But to look at them with the physical eye you wouldn't know the difference. The price point and amount of product you receive for his scrubs are AWESOME ($12 for 1 oz)!  You guys know I love Sara Happ lip scrubs, but hers cost $22 for .5 oz. I also like Good Earth Beauty lip scrubs. They have 1 oz jars for $9.25 or a 3 jar set for $22. LUSH also makes great lip scrubs and FRESH Beauty. Another thing I love about this particular campaign is the HOT GUY sitting next to Jeffree! HaHaHa Isn't he the coolest? I love his tattoo!

Sorry for the length of this post! It's a very serious topic. I'm not trying to change how you personally feel. I just wanted to share some of my personal stories on this topic, what I've been through, what I've experienced and how I've handled things. I definitely respect everyone's opinions and all situations are different. I've been noticing a pattern of people that are hurt and they turn around and hurt others. That's not the way to go. That's not the answer.

Jeffree Star Cherry Soda Velour Lip Scrub ($12)

Jeffree Star Chocolate Covered Strawberry Velour Lip Scrub ($12)