Jaclyn Hill promises lipstick refunds to fans after 'contamination'

Jaclyn Hill has issued a refund for her So Rich lipsticks

Beauty YouTuber Jaclyn Hill has promised to refund everyone who bought one of her lipsticks, after some appeared contaminated.

She said on Instagram on Sunday that everyone would receive a full refund, even if they hadn't complained.

Since she launched them at the end of May, social media has been flooded with complaints about their quality.

Some reported they opened the $18 (£14) lipsticks to find hairs, holes and plastic balls embedded in the formula.

This includes YouTuber Alexandra, who says hers contained shards of metal.

She runs the channel Pretty Pastel Please and the video of her unboxing the lipsticks has been viewed nearly a million times.

"I purchased the lipsticks the moment they launched online, feeling really excited to receive them," she tells Radio 1 Newsbeat.

"I loved the look of the packaging and purchased the entire collection so that I could swatch and review it on my YouTube channel, and paid $315 (£250) in total including shipping."

Alexandra says it took 20 days for the lipsticks to arrive and by that time she'd already seen loads of videos online of people saying the lipsticks were contaminated.

Alexandra's photos of the metal and hairs on her lipsticks

"I didn't want to believe it but, sure enough when I received mine the very first lipstick that I unboxed had a hair sticking right out the top," she says.

"One by one I opened the lipsticks and, of the 19 that I opened, only four didn't show visible signs of contaminants.

Alexandra says that when she swiped the lipsticks on paper - not feeling comfortable to use them on her lips - she found "a cocktail of contaminants including hair, plastic, gritty balls and even three shards of metal in the shade Sophia".

Jaclyn addressed the issues Alexandra mentions, and other concerns about how old the lipsticks were, in a YouTube video two weeks after the launch.

She reassured customers that the lipsticks were not hazardous to use and didn't contain anything that could cause infections.

She then promised to send new products to everyone affected and offered refunds to people who were unhappy.

Alexandra received a refund after emailing the company with pictures of her lipsticks, but says that's not the problem - she thinks the products need recalling for safety reasons and has sent them off to a lab to get them tested.

"I'm extremely upset that Jaclyn Hill has not recalled her lipsticks," she says.

"I found three very sharp shards of metal, and I have also seen other posts online showing that other people have found metal as well, and it leads me to believe that the products are extremely dangerous.

"Had I used the shade Sophia without inspecting it first, I would have sliced my lip open.

"Given the fact that I also found dark black hairs in the same lipstick, the contaminated product could have easily carried bacteria, which could lead to an infection."

Jaclyn Hill says she is now getting the products tested in a lab to see where the contamination has come from.

Newsbeat has contacted her company for comment.

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