For Millennials. By Millennials.
A few days ago, Jaclyn Hill received backlash when a fan of her purchased the first Volume of Jaclyn Hill x Morphe Palette. Things went south pretty fast after that. There were multiple videos and an unbelievable & shocking revelation. The palette was originally cruelty-free. But the latest version is not the same anymore. Will Jaclyn Hill ever come out of the drama whenever she tries to work on something artistic and creative? After the Jaclyn Hill Cosmetics & lipsticks drama, this is another huge hit on her Goodwill as a makeup ambassador. Morphe & Jaclyn just launched volume II of their collaboration. And fans are sure there will not be a volume III.
Jaclyn Hill x Morphe | Vol. I, What went Wrong?
Most of the makeup artists around the world are a huge fan of Jaclyn Hill’s first eyeshadows palette collaboration with Morphe. The formula was so good that Jaclyn Hill ended up copyrighting it. As per the reserved rights, no one else who collaborates with Morphe can use the formula.
While discussing her Volume II details in the launch video, Jaclyn Hill confirmed:
This is the same loved formula as the Jaclyn Hill original palette. And people asked me about that all the time.
She further confirmed that Morphe has its standard formula. However, Jaclyn worked hard and came up with her own formula for the Volume I.
Fast forward to the current week, a YouTuber “Jen Luvs Reviews” posted a video, confirming she is taking down her original review of Jaclyn Hill x Morphe Vol. I. Why would she do that after a couple of years? Well, her sister-in-law recently purchased the Vol. 1 palette from Ulta Beauty. But she did not like it. Jen was surprised because she liked the palette when it was launched.
Non-cruelty free formula
Jen tried swatches of the palette purchased by her sister-in-law and she realized something was wrong. She questioned the Morphe directly, who claimed that she might have purchased a defected palette.
Morphe confirmed the pigmentation has not changed. However, the email was silent regarding the formula. Jen figured it out herself that the formula got changed over the years.
Jen compared the Jaclyn Hill Vol. I 2017 palette with 2020 palette. And she observed the changes in the “ingredients” used. Morphe added Shae Butter, Coconut Oil & Jojoba Oil. Adding oils can reduce the shelf life of the palette. Jaclyn Hill’s lipsticks faced the same disaster due to the inclusion of oils in the formula.
Apart from the oils, what’s really shocking is the inclusion of Carmine. It is a bright red color pigment, extracted from something you cannot unsee:
The pigment is produced by drying, crushing, and then boiling the bodies of cochineal beetles to extract carminic acid.
Yes, it comes from bugs. Carmine is non-vegan and definitely non-cruelty-free. Morphe should have announced the change of formula, from Vegan to Non-vegan. But it did not. Before the launch of her Vol. I, Jaclyn Hill confirmed she will never involve in animal cruelty.
I would NEVER create anything that involves animal cruelty
— Jaclyn Hill (@Jaclynhill) January 29, 2017
Morphe responds
Morphe was apparently done with the backlash on the revised formula. So the team finally responded:
We have seen several concerns about our original #MorphexJaclynHill palette formula modifications and ingredient changes and want to set the record straight. @Jaclynhill … pic.twitter.com/atAZTW99BS
— Morphe (@MorpheBrushes) March 1, 2020
While setting the record straight, Morphe confirmed that they often change the formula to adjust as per industry standards. However, they do not inform the collaborator in detail. Jaclyn Hill was only told that Morphe is working to improve the performance and payoff of the Vol. I. However, she was unaware of Carmine’s inclusion. Furthermore, Morphe apologized to Jen and confirmed that one of their customer service team members shared incorrect detail with her.
Jaclyn Hill Responds
After Morphe’s response to the whole scenario, Jaclyn also spoke up about the formula changes.
https://t.co/dViWbpzLeh pic.twitter.com/eNcneYCPa6
— Jaclyn Hill (@Jaclynhill) March 2, 2020
Jaclyn Hill apologized to her Vegan fans, confirming she, herself is non-vegan. She also shaded Morphe by saying that the formula can be improved without changing the ingredients.
While some of the fans supported her, others were not happy with how she handled the issue on the public platform.
https://twitter.com/BrittanyMColley/status/1234638546998382593?s=20
https://twitter.com/AddyMonroe/status/1234632863024394246?s=20
While other fans were questioning her, Jen also shared her thoughts as well:
https://twitter.com/JenLuvsReviews/status/1234659586142961664?s=20
We hope Jaclyn clarifies the situation, once again, without worrying about her collaborations with Morphe. Because if you are wondering about whether Morphe x Jaclyn Hill Vol. II is vegan-free, well, there’s Carmine in it as well. However, not all the shades of Vol. I and Vol. II have carmine in them. You can check Morphe site and skip the shades with Carmine if you are a vegan and you already bought the palettes. Like Jen, we are still confused about how Vol. I, and now Vol. II has Carmine in it when Jaclyn Hill owns the original formula.