Jaclyn Hill will refund all customers after ‘mouldy’ lipsticks complaints

American YouTuber and beauty influencer Jaclyn Hill has announced that all customers who purchased her first ever line of lipsticks will be given a full refund, including shipping and taxes, regardless of whether the lipstick they received was faulty or not.  

In case you missed it, Hill faced criticism earlier this month when fans started reporting that lipsticks from her newly launched brand Jaclyn Cosmetics appeared to be out of date, crumbly, mouldy and containing everything from white hairs to small metal balls.

Hill initially responded to the claims in a 14-minute video posted on YouTube in which she defends the products and tries to explain why the lipsticks appeared to be contaminated, placing the blame on white gloves in the factory and oxygen bubbles. "My lipsticks are not mouldy. They are not hazardous. They are not contaminated. They are not unsafe for you in any way shape or form. Every single ingredient in my lipstick is new and it is FDA approved," Hill says in the video.

But over the weekend, Hill took to Instagram stories to address the concerns again, this time apologising for the fiasco, announcing that she has cut ties with the original lab and offering a full refund to all customers.

"I have done everything - honestly - that you can think of. I have consulted with so many CEOs the past ten days figuring out how exactly to fix this, to make it right and make sure it never happens again. This is a whole new world for me, having my own brand, not having a collaboration. The last thing I want to be known as is the girl who puts out crappy products like it breaks my heart.”

Hill says she has sent out her lipstick to different labs to test the products, spending over $100,000 dollars in the process, and that she is pushing back several upcoming launches in order to ensure the quality of the products.

“Long story short, the lab that I worked with I will never be working with again, obviously. There's been many people fired over this. We've got an entire new team that we're building for quality control because obviously, that didn't work.”

In the meantime, Hill says she made the decision to give all customers who purchased one of the lipsticks a full refund, including those who had no complaints. “I know that there are a lot of people out there - it doesn't look like it on social media - but with all the emails in the back end, there's a lot of people who love their lipsticks. But I don't care if 195,000 people loved a lipstick, if 3 people are having an issue, that's what's going to keep me awake at night.” Customers should have received an email over the weekend letting them know their refund is being processed and Hill says the money will be back in people’s accounts within seven working days.

"I don't care about the loss of this money, I couldn't give a damn. You have no idea how embarrassing this is for me, but I will do everything in my power to make this right going forward and learn from this lesson that God has given me.”

Some people on social media, however, still feel that Hill is not doing enough and that the lipsticks should be recalled. As we await the results from the independent lab tests, maybe don’t use your lipsticks just yet.

Watch the video for yourself below.