To whom it may concern,
Morphe Brushes, aka Morphe Cosmetics, released a series of $15 eyeshadow palettes with social media influencer Jaclyn Hill on August 14, 2018. These palettes were originally to be sold at their website, stores, and at ULTA (online and in stores) on June 26, 2018 but was halted due to “quality control” issues. Jaclyn Hill, who is the face of Morphe for this campaign, was all over social media making inaccurate, misleading, dishonest claims not only about the quality of the products but also about what happened to the palettes. Enclosed are a series of Tweets, videos, and IG posts made by Ms. Hill about the quality of the palettes, destruction of the “old” palettes, and that people can get refunds via Morphe which people have stated on social media they can’t or Morphe won’t pay for return shipping on defective products.
Timeline:
May 31, 2018: The last of the Vaults arrives in the US. There were several in the month of May.
https://panjiva.com/shipment_search/results?q=morphe
https://panjiva.com/shipment_search/results?q=beautydom
(Between June 1 & June 21: BECCA allegedly issues an informal cease and desist towards Morphe. Jaclyn takes to social media to hype up the products.) https://twitter.com/Jaclynhill/status/1002649144996057088
https://twitter.com/Jaclynhill/status/1004060987660603393
https://twitter.com/Jaclynhill/status/1005510118384001025
https://twitter.com/Jaclynhill/status/1006285858926931968
https://twitter.com/glamourgoaIs/status/1006301042093330432 — screenshots of her swatches from her YouTube video shared by other people.
June 19, 2018: Social media influencer (and paid by Morphe via affiliate codes) Jackie Aina talks about her video which showed there were issues with the Vault palette. Jaclyn replies to her. https://twitter.com/jackieaina/status/1009232032474398720 https://twitter.com/Jaclynhill/status/1009301832319954944
June 21, 2018: Morphe announces they are pulling the campaign due to quality control issues.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BkTvQ_GgtPR/?taken-by=morphebrushes
https://twitter.com/Dawna325/status/1009987735954870272 — people reiterate what Jaclyn via Morphe has claimed about pulling the palettes
https://twitter.com/chastity_mara/status/1009987721497141248
https://twitter.com/Jaclynhill/status/1009990805853908994 — makes comment Morphe will lose millions.
https://twitter.com/Jaclynhill/status/1009996895190593536 — claims 600 PR packages went out but they don’t know which is bad. All palettes are stamped with batch codes.
(Between June 22 & August 1: Jaclyn alleges they have ordered replacements palettes. Old palettes were destroyed. Packaging from palettes was “reused”. Supposedly new product was ordered and shipped in between these dates.)
June 26, 2018: Original date the Vault was to launch. Date scrubbed. (NEW batches of the Vault arrive in the US, these were ordered BEFORE Morphe pulled the campaign.)
July 20, 2018: Morphe announced the campaign is back on with products set to sell on August 14.
https://twitter.com/Jaclynhill/status/1022597572643487744. — Resumes promoting Vault.
July 27, 2018: BECCA Cosmetics issues a formal cease and desist against Morphe.
https://twitter.com/Jaclynhill/status/1023289856636727296 — fails to disclose code earns her money.
August 2, 2018: Morphe sues BECCA over the C&D.
August 6, 2018: Jaclyn attacks people over Vault when quality was pulled for being bad and there’s no way for new replacements to arrive from China between June 22 & August 14 via cargo boat. https://twitter.com/Jaclynhill/status/1026533141476003840
August 7, 2018: Jaclyn claims it was a pressing issue in a reply to someone on Twitter. https://twitter.com/Jaclynhill/status/1027017680270880768
August 9, 2018: Jaclyn touches on the delay of the Vault palettes. https://twitter.com/Jaclynhill/status/1027746156225417216
Retweets someone’s photos of swatches from palettes sold in Las Vegas in July. These were from the “old” palette they pulled. https://twitter.com/SwirlAndVinegar/status/1027805573310337025
Asks If people want to see a comparison video of old palettes vs new. https://twitter.com/Jaclynhill/status/1027676522184884224
Claims there were inconsistencies. https://twitter.com/Jaclynhill/status/1027753530495590400
August 11, 2018: Jaclyn uploads a video using one of the Vault palettes. Does not disclose affiliate promo code in video. Misleads customers with quality of products. https://twitter.com/Jaclynhill/status/1028337329482674176
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NjS4cqChg_Y
August 13, 2018: Announces relaunch of collection. https://twitter.com/Jaclynhill/status/1028994193576943616
Again promotes promo code without disclosure: https://twitter.com/Jaclynhill/status/1029117644136493056
August 14, 2018: Morphe resumes sells of the Vault on their website & stores as well as with ULTA.
https://twitter.com/Jaclynhill/status/1029385597243326465
https://twitter.com/MorpheBrushes/status/1029519066334146561
https://twitter.com/Jaclynhill/status/1029568709097136128 — Jaclyn claims old palettes were destroyed.
August 18, 2018: Refuses to acknowledge there are quality issues with palettes. https://twitter.com/Jaclynhill/status/1030867075374493696
Claims new palettes were made in June: https://twitter.com/Jaclynhill/status/1030869728250789895
Claims packaging was reused for the “fixed” palettes: https://twitter.com/Jaclynhill/status/1030871497282383872
August 20, 2018: Acknowledges there are quality issues. https://twitter.com/Jaclynhill/status/1031603081669160960
Informs customers to contact Morphe if they have issues. https://twitter.com/Jaclynhill/status/1031654220422934529
August 23, 2018: Morphe withdraws the case against BECCA. Dismissed with prejudice.
August 28, 2018: Acknowledges she promotes Morphe a lot. Continues to fail to disclose she’s paid. https://twitter.com/Jaclynhill/status/1034532690966601729
September 1, 2018: Jaclyn releases a video on Youtube (approximately 45 minutes long); 1st 15 minutes (or so) talks about the Vault and the issues with it. Contradicting earlier statements about the palettes having been sent back to be destroyed. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WDrfQ4fRMg8
Various other tweets:
https://twitter.com/Jaclynhill/status/1031688888891453441
https://twitter.com/Jaclynhill/status/1031661491014041600
https://twitter.com/Jaclynhill/status/1031654220422934529
https://twitter.com/Jaclynhill/status/1033545733692108800
https://twitter.com/Jaclynhill/status/1037792089751388160
During this time, the folks at Morphe have not really posted anything in regards to the issues with the Vault, it was all Jaclyn Hill who collabed with them on these series of palettes.
I’m asking that someone look into the matter due to the fact people bought these palettes to support her and that the quality was hyped up. Many people — you can read tweets directly to Morphe and Jaclyn — https://twitter.com/MorpheBrushes/with_replies — show a lot of people are told they either can’t get refunds/exchanges once they used the palettes OR they will have to pay to ship back. Those who made international purchases had shipping up to $30 so return shipping would be as much.
While there were quality control issues from the beginning the real reason why they delayed the palettes being sold was due to BECCA Cosmetics issuing an (allegeded) informal cease and desist over the design of the packaging. Jaclyn Hill had previously worked with BECCA and the design they had for the BECCA Champagne Pop collection (2016) was near identical to the Vault palette design (2018). Morphe is alleged to have pulled the palettes for this reason then decided to resume sales which led to BECCA issuing the formal C&D in July which in turn led Morphe to sue BECCA. Since then, Morphe has withdrawn their lawsuit and settled with BECCA with undisclosed terms.
I do not believe that the “new” palettes are new but rather were made before May 2018 and arrived in the US between May 2 and May 31. While more shipments of the Vault did arrive in the US by June 26, these were not replacements for the “bad” palettes but rather additional palettes in the event the first run sold out. https://panjiva.com/shipment_search/results?q=morphe
All palettes — sold in Las Vegas in June, sent as PR gifts to influencers, along with the resumed sells — all contain batch codes which identify when the products were made. Morphe refuses to release the batch codes. I also believe the batch code will show that Jaclyn Hill, intentional or unintentionally, mislead people with her claims the items were sent back to be destroyed then later claimed, on video, that the palettes were actually quarantined. I believe there are no “new, fixed” palettes and the palettes sold on and after August 14 are the same palettes that were to be sold on June 26, 2018.
I’m asking your agency to investigate Ms. Hill’s claims and to determine if Ms. Hill and Morphe via Ms. Hill mislead customers with their claims.
Sincerely,
Zadidoll
www.zadidoll.com
