Jaclyn Hill started her online career in 2011, and everything has changed since

Her first YouTube video, a grainy, 10-minute clip filled with close-up shots and minimal editing, was a tutorial inspired by Kim Kardashian. At the time, Hill had hopes of sharing her love of beauty and maybe furthering her career as a makeup artist.

Jaclyn Cosmetics, the makeup brand from influencer Jaclyn Hill, has a history of embattled product launches. When it kicked in, complaints poured in from customers that its lipsticks were hairy and lumpy. It received criticism that its Sun Kissed Cream Bronzer range is far too narrow.

Scandals sometimes overshadow successes, but Hill takes that in stride. Whether you agree or disagree that Hill has adapted, there’s no denying she’s persevered.

She continued to sell makeup after failures, and her namesake brand is now sold at Ultra Beauty. There’s also Jaclyn Roxanne, her jewelry brand. According to Hill, the line’s initial launch “blew” her makeup endeavors “out of the water.”

All the while, comments about her failed lipstick launch follow her. While Hill says the incident was “devastating” and “life-shattering,” she’s moved on. “At this point, I can finally say for the first time that I’m genuinely over it,” she says, adding that those who continue to mention it are “simply trolls.”

Makeup artist and strategic brand consultant Melissa Hibbért says it’s inexcusable for a cosmetics brand to release a shade range that excludes a broad swath of consumers in this day and age. “In a time where diversity and inclusion is no longer just a topic, but a demand, the very idea that someone with such a following and influence would launch a product that misses the mark in delivering deeper shade range is outrageous and, frankly, dismissive,” she asserts. “There are no excuses and, even if there were, consumers are tired of them.”

After the controversial launch of her brand in 2019, beauty guru Jaclyn Hill is back and has revamped her makeup brand, Jaclyn Cosmetics. In the reveal of a new lipstick range Poutspoken, Hill briefly refers back to the drama surrounding her first launch.