James Charles Won

YouTuber Tati Westbrook has once again found herself in the midst of BeautTuber drama. On Monday, Westbrook posted a 45-minute long video titled “BLENDIFUL DRAMA … Product Recall, Gossip & Tutorial,” to address criticisms of her $18 makeup applicator called “the Blendiful.” (Picture a guitar pick-shaped fabric makeup puff “designed to seamlessly apply & soften both liquid and powder products,” according to the official description.) She also said she “hasn’t made a dime” from her Tati Beauty brand, to which I say—James won.

In the short feature film, Westbrook challenges what gossip channels have reported about “the Blendiful”—everything from questions about its sanitation to accusations that the product is just a “cash grab.” She claims that “less than one percent” of her 100,000 products sold were damaged and that social media posts about the product ripping were the result of consumers not following the Blendiful care instructions. She also said that she didn’t immediately post a tutorial video after it hit the market because there was something wrong with the product—she simply wanted the public to formulate their own opinions, first, before she sharing her own how-to vlog. That, and she experienced an endometriosis flare-up when she went to film. She ends the video with the promised tutorial.

All of that is fine, but I’m suck on the money quandary. “The company has to date earned $15 million in sales, we have paid taxes, and then poured everything back into creating and researching and developing new product and ordering materials and I am building this to be a dream brand for you guys and for myself,” she said in the video. “This is legacy to me and this is the big dream to me, so it is in no way shape or form a cash grab. I am not making money from this, I have not made money from this and it’s going to be a long time before I do.” How could she not have made money from Tati Beauty? That feels a bit hyperbolic, no?  What’s the point of influencing if it doesn’t result in a big pay day?