Inside Kylie Jenner And Jeffree Star's Feud
Both Kylie Jenner and YouTuber Jeffree Star have built super-successful cosmetics companies in recent years — Kylie Cosmetics and Jeffree Star Cosmetics — so it's unsurprising that they've crossed paths on more than one occasion. While both makeup moguls share a penchant for bright lip colors and strong contours, they're also very active on social media. But when it comes to their personal relationship, things have seemed pretty frosty at times.
Star is regularly embroiled in feuds with other celebrities. Most famously, he fell out with his former best friend and fellow makeup aficionado, Kat Von D, but he's also gotten into online fights with the likes of Laura Lee, Gabriel Zamora, Nikita Dragun, Manny MUA, and even Kim Kardashian, according to ELLE Australia. So the fact that Star also appears to be in a feud with Jenner is perhaps unsurprising, considering the fact that their cosmetics businesses compete so closely.
Here's everything you need to know about Kylie Jenner and Jeffree Star's alleged feud.
Star criticized Jenner's 'unacceptable' lip gloss wands
The alleged feud began when Jeffree Star shared his dissatisfaction with one of Kylie Jenner's earliest product releases for Kylie Cosmetics. Star tweeted a photo along with a series of complaints on April 15, 2016, regarding the lip glosses he'd received, which appeared to have damaged wands with badly frayed brushes. SO disappointed in this product. That wand is unacceptable," Star wrote. While Star's tweets have since been deleted, many outlets, like Pretty 52 took screenshots and re-published them. It's worth noting that other customers shared their allegedly faulty lip glosses across social media, per Allure.
Star's tweets continued, "No shade but... How the f*** can a multimillion dollar celebrity think this is acceptable?? Was there no quality control?" And it seems that the vlogger's review got back to Jenner, as Kylie Cosmetics posted on Instagram two days later, on April 17, 2016, "When I saw the problem with my lip gloss brushes I stopped all production and changed it. Life is a learning experience and we learn from our mistakes. Only a small amount of the old brushes were sold and I can now confirm that next week we are sending new brushes/glosses to EVERYONE that ordered on 4/1." However, the gesture wasn't enough for Star who wrote (in a since-deleted tweet via Pretty 52), "How ironic that it took ME giving an honest review which got world wide attention, to get @kyliecosmetics to make a statement."
Star claims there's no beef — he's just passionate
Despite igniting a very public feud with his fellow makeup mogul, Jeffree Star insisted that he wasn't holding a grudge against Kylie Jenner. In a response to the Kylie Cosmetics apology for defective lip gloss wands, Star wrote in a now-deleted tweet (via Pretty 52), "I'm just glad they're finally addressing the issue and fixing it, that's all me and every customer that got those wands, wanted." He also tried to make it clear that he had nothing against Jenner's fledgling makeup brand tweeting (via Pretty 52), "There's no beef, I just have a passion for makeup and this industry. Glad the issue is now resolved."
Meanwhile, Jenner wanted fans to know that she was still learning from her mistakes, and had nothing but good intentions when it came to her makeup brand. She responded to Star on Twitter saying, "I have the same passion," along with a yellow heart emoji. Jenner was ready to make amends despite the public shaming, but Star didn't seem to get over the wand issue quite so quickly.
Star says he's already 'bored' of Kylie Cosmetics
If you thought Jeffree Star and Kylie Jenner's feud was over, think again. In May 2016, Star took the argument to the next level in an interview with Racked. Making things personal, Star came for the fact that the manufacturing and packaging for Kylie Cosmetics is "outsourced to Seed Beauty, a private-label producer in nearby Oxnard, California," according to Forbes. Seed Beauty also happens to be the company behind affordable makeup brand, Colourpop.
Star told Racked, "She found a lab that makes a $5 formula and they're called ColourPop. They gave her the same exact one with her name on it and charged $20 more. I'm bored." Allegations that Jenner's lip kits have the same formula as the much cheaper Colourpop products have persisted, with beauty vlogger Stephanie Nicole (via Buzzfeed) reporting the connections between the two brands in 2016. As for Star, he also told Racked, "If the product didn't suck, I wouldn't have anything to say," and also, "I was just giving my honest review." Burn.
Star's relationship with Jenner gets a little better
While reviewing Kylie Jenner's new Kylighters for his YouTube channel in March 2017, Jeffree Star revealed that was in direct communication with Jenner. In the video, Star explained that he'd tweeted Jenner, "Hey girl! Can't wait to try your highlighters," and she allegedly wrote me back, "Hope you love them." However, apparently no-one received a PR package of the Kylighters, so Star had to resort to borrowing a much coveted set (the first two releases sold out in minutes) from a friend who was lucky enough to snag one. Of the new product he explained, "For $22, I expected, like, the formula to be unreal." He also said, "I had to definitely go in with several layers." Ultimately, however, Starr said that while he was "pleasantly surprised," he described the highlighters as "mediocre — in the middle" and said that he "did not fall in love" with the product.
According to Teen Vogue, in May 2017, Star inadvertently started new drama when he unveiled the Kylie Cosmetics velvet formula lip kit before Jenner could. However, Seventeen pointed out that Star's early unveiling of the new product probably wasn't meant maliciously, as the YouTube star had actually been complimentary about several of the brand's products on his channel. As Seventeen explained, "The drama was eventually resolved and since then Jeffree has had nothing but good things to say about Kylie's products, so this deal is most likely just a misunderstanding."
Kylie's $360 brush set causes controversy
In a YouTube video posted in December 2017, Jeffree Star discussed Kylie Jenner's new makeup brush collection, and the fact that it was quite so unaffordable. Talking about the $360 price tag of the full set, Star said, "This brush set with its cheap old vegan, aluminum f***ing silver is just not worth the price point." His dislike for the product, and its cost, was only made clearer when he continued, "I definitely think that you're paying for an over-hyped celebrity name and the price — I know, we're all just like 'the price' — I just don't think it's worth it."
Star was far from the only critic of Jenner's latest product, and Buzzfeed even rounded up some of the best fan reactions to the hefty price tag. In an apparent response to the backlash, the Kylie Cosmetics founder explained the reasoning behind the elaborate brushes in a December 2017 tweet: "I have developed for you guys the most amazing luxury brushes ever. I am very excited! Real brushes don't compare to synthetic brushes. Different performance/quality/everything. I am 100% down to do an entire synthetic line in the future which will ultimately be cheaper."
Jeffree accuses Kylie of copying
In December 2017, Jeffree Star posted a since-deleted tweet accusing Kylie Cosmetics of copying his own makeup line. Star claimed that the packaging for Jenner's 30 shade concealer range was identical to his own lipsticks. According to Seventeen, Star tweeted, "I gotta know ONE THING... With all that f***ing money she's made, why did @kyliecosmetics use the SAME PACKAGING as my liquid lipsticks that have been out since 2014??? Invest and make something different maybe?" He also shared side-by-side photos of the two products, showing their similar bottles.
According to Allure, although Star deleted his original tweet, he apparently continued to reply to his mentions on Twitter. He allegedly wrote, "Remember when I said I wasn't mad but people are coming into my mentions acting like I am? HAHA STOP IT! I'm aware other brands have used the same component too. Doesn't change the question ;)".
Star gets cut from the Kylie Cosmetics PR list
In a since-deleted tweet from February 2018, per Revelist, Jeffree Star revealed, "I can confirm I've been removed from the Kylie Cosmetics PR list." He followed up the announcement with another tweet (also since-deleted, per Revelist), "I could care less about getting free products... I buy anything I have ever wanted to review that you guys have told me about. I invest a lot into my channel and this is just pure comedy to me." He continued, "I love when I speak the truth about a product, and then I get removed." As for whether or not the removal was justified, Star played innocent claiming, "It was one product I didn't like. I've given a lot of her stuff rave reviews in the past. All good."
Meanwhile, in July 2018, Star decided to include Kylie Cosmetics in a YouTube video titled "FULL FACE OF BRANDS THAT HATE ME." Referencing his ongoing feud with Jenner, Star said, "Candy K was a very early-on color. When I tried it I wasn't obsessed, her formula is just a little drying. I've liked some of the shades that she's put out before, but overall I'm not, like, in love with it." He continued, "It's kind of lackluster and I'm just kind, like, over the brand at the moment. Maybe it's gonna, you know, re-excite me in the future, maybe not, but right now I'm kind of like over it — it's kinda like meh."
Star weighs in on the Jordyn Woods cheating scandal
When it was revealed to the world that Kylie Jenner's BFF, Jordyn Woods, had allegedly hooked up with Khloé Kardashian's partner, Tristan Thompson, everybody seemed to have an opinion. And, perhaps unsurprisingly, that included Jeffree Star, too. According to Cosmopolitan UK, Star used his Instagram Stories to elaborate on the situation, and the video clip was re-shared by @jstarupdatess. He said, "I just really skipped through Jordyn Woods's Red Table Talk. It was so f***ing fake and phoney [sic], y'all all these people are actors for a living." He continued, "Y'all have been hooking up for a month or two. The whole city of Calabasas knows it. There's eyes everywhere, there's normal people that aren't famous that are your neighbours, b***h, and everyone sees everything."
Star also weighed in on the Jordyn Woods and Tristan Thompson scandal on Twitter writing, "Amen. My whole entire town knows they've been hooking up for at least a few months ... The rest of the world is now being played by lies. Nothing new lol." Star also tweeted at Khloé Kardashian, brutally writing, "Learn to co-parent on a healthy level and stop acting like your man isn't trash either ... thank you, now shut the f**k up. — The World."
Maybe they'll just never be friends...
One of the most important moments of Kylie Jenner's career so far was undoubtedly when Forbes declared in March 2019 that she was "the youngest self-made billionaire ever." Thanks to the success of her makeup brand, Kylie Cosmetics, Jenner was the first member of the Kardashian-Jenner clan to pass the billion mark. But as she told The New York Times in March 2019, she realized she wasn't solely responsible for her incredible success. She said, "I can't say I've done it by myself," adding, "If they're just talking finances, technically, yes, I don't have any inherited money. But I have had a lot of help and a huge platform."
Needless to say, Star was pretty salty about the Kardashian sister's achievement (according to Celebrity Net Worth, Star is worth $75 million, as of this writing). When Dictionary.com questioned Forbes's definition of "self-made billionaire" with a sarcastic tweet, Star decided to weigh in too. He tweeted, "I declined the feature so they had to pick someone." Perhaps Star and Jenner will never get on, and that's okay. But it's clear that the online drama they create together is going to continue bringing us life for years to come.