Jaclyn Hill Cosmetics So Rich Lipsticks | Swatches & Dupes
Jaclyn Hill Cosmetics So Rich Lipstick ($18.00 for 0.13 oz.) debuted a week ago, and my order just arrived yesterday! Several shades are sold out presently, but they will be restocked (and some are still available). There are 20 shades available, and they all have a satin-cream finish.
There have been some customer concerns (but it is hard as a bystander to see how prevalent they are), and frankly, I don’t think I’ve ever studied a lipstick quite so much. I hope that customers that have had any issues contact customer service, as how they handle issues is important. I remember Dominique Cosmetics had enough customers report in about issues with their Lemonade palette, and they ended up pulling and replacing (while fixing the issue(s)).
Edit 6/16/2019: At this time, I have no plans to review these lipsticks as I continue to wait to get more information from the brand, see how they move forward, and see if any additional information comes to light. I have added dupes for all 20 shades, which you can find on The Dupe List or by clicking any of the shades below to be taken to their respective page (which has a “view dupes” option).
Here is my current experience:
The package was shipped from southern California and received by me around 5PM PST on June 5th in Phoenix, Arizona, where it had been 100+ degrees. The package went ground and was in transit for two days. It arrived, felt hot, and I just removed the box and left it on a counter, though I forgot to turn it right-side up, so they lay on their side. I don’t typically swatch products literally the second they arrive, as I typically swatch early in the morning so that I can get images edited for the next day. I actually was not intending to swatch these yet, as most are out of stock, and I have other lip products that I consider higher priority.
I started shooting photos around 6:30AM PST yesterday (6/6), and I had all of the lipsticks sitting on my studio table (under my lights), while I was working through another brand’s collection first. None of the 20 shades looked deformed/problematic to me; many of them sweated on their way to me, which I do not personally find unusual–this has occurred for me across brands. To actually contrast, I had a MAC lipstick that was shipped overnight from the east coast, which had fallen out of the base and smushed against the inside of the cap (but the other four lipsticks were fine). I don’t recall having too many truly melted lipsticks; I recall one in the last year or so (Bite Leo), but I order 99% of makeup online (and have lived in California or Arizona for my makeup-buying life).
After swatching all 20 shades on my arm, where I tried to use the same type of pressure I would for any lipstick (and I definitely think if anything, I erred on the side of firmer), I didn’t experience any issues with lipsticks breaking or angling. I swatched all 20 lipsticks on my lips in a similar fashion, and I didn’t experience any of them breaking. I did feel like a few looked possibly ever-so-slightly angled after all that but only because I was inspecting the base like I was on a case. I have definitely had moments where I’ve twisted a lipstick too high up from the tube, and it has angled a bit (in general).
When editing photos, I noticed that two shades, Amazeballs and Hot Toddy, appear to have the slightest shadowing that indicated that there was some melting on the side. Some shades had what appeared to be raised waxiness on the slanted tip of the bullet: Gossip, Hot Toddy, Nude AF, and That Girl. (I have seen that very occasionally, most recently on Bite’s Los Angeles.) They don’t have the type of texture of a formula that really melts like butter with warmth on lips; they’re firmer, denser, more like a cross between MAC Satins and Amplifieds (creamier but not slippery), less like a YSL Rouge Volupte or Fresh Lip Balm (two products that feel like melting butter as soon as they touch the lips!). They definitely seem to be reacting to heat in some fashion, and I wonder how humidity may affect the outcomes.
The most concerning aspect I found was that two shades, Hot Toddy and Sofia, seemed to have small, grainy bits (tiny) in them, which I felt while swatching on my lips but not on my arm, and some have suggested it is from crystallization from certain ingredients (like mango butter) melting and cooling. (A quick google search of “mango butter crystallization” yields lots of results about crystallization or graininess being common with butters along with how to solve this issue, though I don’t know if it solves heating/cooling in transit vs. during manufacturing.) I’m pretty sure I’ve experienced this a few times in the past, but it’s rare enough (and didn’t seem present through the process of testing) that it’s not something on my radar (I thought it wasn’t mixed 100% perfectly or perhaps build of lip skin etc. since it didn’t keep happening). I’ve re-swatched all 20 shades on my arm three times now, and I didn’t notice any graininess or crystallization except for Sofia on the second swatch time (which was barely) but not on the third — so that’s three sets of arm swatches and one set of swatches on my lips for amount used.
I highly recommend contacting the brand’s customer service with any issues first because it gives them a very clear, digital record that is easier to keep track of if they are looking to fix or resolve the problem, if it is on a larger scale. The brand has a 30-day return policy, and it also says that they “will replace damaged or defective products at no additional charge,” so I hope that is what people experience. If you ordered yours, I’d love to hear if you had any issues and how they were resolved (or not)!
Please read my follow-up post, where I looked for and addressed what I found/didn’t find relating to additional issues that were reported/got onto my radar since swatching them here.
The issues being reported have merit and should be investigated thoroughly by the brand.
To be clear: I would not recommend purchasing any of the brand’s lipsticks at this time until there is more clarity provided by the brand and/or new inventory or reformulation available.
Brand’s Response
I realize you do not have the option, as you review new releases as quickly as possible. Personally, I will only have l/s or other meltables shipped/delivered between oct 15 and April 15/+ or -, given the weather/temp predictions. Beyond that point, it’s instore or forget it. My ‘melts’ were my own fault; left out in the automobile. This collection is nude and seasonless. It could have launched in Sept, with far fewer spoilages. More rush to market, without exploring the downside of the timing. I think it will be difficult to pinpoint the fault: Hot storage before shipment, during shipment, or on your porch. Caveat Emptor. Which is the takeaway from all your diligent research, lol.
I wasn’t expecting you to do a review of Jaclyn Cosmetics. Thank you so much for the pleasant surprise! Youtube is kind-of basically exploding right now with all sorts of controversies, anger, and other people who had no problems so I’m glad that you wrote up your detailed experiences with shipping and with the lipsticks’ quality control. I personally am probably going to wait until the fall to place any orders if they’ve got stock by then…I usually places ordering makeup on a break for the summer anyways since North Carolina gets oppressively hot and humid. Sometimes my books even arrive wrinkled and damp…
I’m looking forward to the full review! I always trust your reviews above all else.
Hopefully, by that point, it’ll be clearer whether there’s a larger scale issue with the formula or not – and what the brand is/isn’t going to do about it or that it ends up resolved by that point.
Wrinkled and damp books is not a phrase I expected to giggle over today! 😉
I’m not planning on purchasing any of the lipsticks, but I love a good old swatch party on your website or in a YouTube video. I started actually following Youtube beauty channels and this website just because I was obsessed with MAC lipstick swatches. For me Jaclyn Hill’s launch is just the opportunity to binge on lipstick swatches.
But I just wanted to say that I appreciate the content you put out, how detailed you were with the shipment and product first impressions. Is very valuable information and your transparency and objectiveness is amazing. You are truly a professional.
I’m sure there will be lots and lots of swatches to binge on for this launch!
Surprisingly, I like the looks of Tipsy, which isn’t a shade I would normally gravitate towards. I also like Control Freak which is a “me” shade if ever there was one! I am not going to pull the trigger because none of the shades appear unique and doubt the formula will be so “amazing” that they would replace other formula’s in my collection. It is difficult to separate the true formula problems from those who just love to bash Jaclyn Hill. She seems to be a very polarizing individual. I appreciate your comments Christine and trust, as I always have, that you are impartial in this. You bring a level head to the beauty community, a community that has seen it’s fair share of drama recently.
I try – I look at it at setting expectations and trying to share what I experienced without making it about being the best/the worst – just here are the pros/cons/what happened!
Deborah, I was wondering that myself. I tend to try and not read too much into the complaints. I know who i can trust, namely Temptalia and a couple others. I have no problem with any of the YT personalities, including Jaclyn Hill. I wish them all the success they can achieve. And, if there’s one that comes along that I don’t like…I don’t watch. I don’t have time to be jealous of someone else’s success or problems..
I really like Sofia and Perfectionist. I think I’ll wait on reviews before I get any.
After last night, I probably don’t need even one more nude lipstick. Plus, I did watch Shae’s review (peppered with profanity, which I’ve never seen her do before, but my Jersey Gurl was HEATED and feeling a way!) of these, including close-ups of the tubes. She does live in southern NJ, though, so I’m sure heat with humidity may have had something to do with several tubes getting tilted and looking melty in spots. But those peculiar granules? She did link a chemist’s video explaining how mango butter can cause this to happen if heated and cooled. I’ll wait until autumn or winter to possibly get Fussy, Isla, Control Freak and Bada$$, provided they review well here.
Hi Nancy,
Yes, Shae was worked up!! I think she use to use a lot more profanity as I remember when I first started watching her videos quite a long time ago, she swore quite freely. Then she got a bunch of flack for it and she stopped using it every other word and now rarely uses profanity.
I use Nuxe Reve de Miel Lip Balm. It is my holy grail as it is super thick and hydrating and living in such a cold climate it has saved my lips so many times. The older the tub gets the more grainy it becomes. It doesn’t have a lot of fruit oils but it does have a lot of oils, almond being the most prominent. The graininess never bothers me as I just wipe the grains off. If I put them between two hard surfaces they break up and I think they are just naturally occurring due to the oils and maybe the honey also. I forgot that honey can get grainy . The honey is there as an antibacterial.
Anyway, as related to the lip balm, it doesn’t decrease the effectiveness of the balm but I know a lot of people don’t care for it for that reason. I just know it works amazingly well for my super dry, easily chapped and cracked lips.
I think Shae would have been far less heated if JH followers had not attacked someone who had the same issues and JH minimized the problem.
I had the same experience when my Emily Noel palette had mold.
Otherwise I think Shae would have been very disappointed but not livid.
I also was pleasantly surprised to see you including Jaclyn Hill on your blog! Thank you for such a detailed review, it was interesting to read through. I think I’ll pass on these. We’re about to hit summer in AZ (as you know) and I don’t tend to order makeup online during the hottest months.
CatG, I made THAT mistake a last weekend when I placed an order for a few new MAC goodies. One of which was a matte lipstick in Life In Sepia. I’ve never received a somewhat melty MATTE lipstick before! Into the fridge it went. Which meant I couldn’t wear it yesterday as planned. Oh well. It did solidify, so all seems fine now. Won’t be ordering any more until November! LOL
I know a lot of people have mixed opinions about Jaclyn Hill, but I personally love her. She’s just trying to make a living like everyone else, so it’s always going to be somewhat about the money. On the other hand: SUPER EXCITED FOR THESE LIPSTICKS AND I NEED A BUNCH OF THEM!
Interesting. I really was curious to see when I heard about these is how they compare to MAC. But it’s irrelevant now after seeing so many issues. I live in one of the hottest places in the country yet I get lipstick in the mail. I let it cool off and don’t touch it for a few hours. Hers are a whole different ballgame. Folks have fuzzy strings in theirs. Eck. And the bubbles may or may not from oils. Folks have had hard things that have cut their lips. Every good brand of lipstick gets delivered from ulta or Sephora, etc and you don’t have fuzzy stuff, hard stuff to cut your lip, etc. I really want to see how they’re any different than MAC, a Holy Grail these seemed similar to, although perhaps they were trying for a budget friendly Tom Ford or Tilbury. That’ll be interesting to see how they compare. I’ll pass but appreciate the review.
I had an experience with a Burt’s Bees lipstick that went grainy after about 6 months, and I’ve had terrible experiences with the NYX version of the powder style lipsticks, which just fell apart in the tube within a week of purchase. So I definitely have seen the kinds of things you’re seeing with this product with other, much larger and more commercial brands. After watching a video or two on these, which is about all I intend to devote to JH and her cosmetics, I think that the problem is that they are just not perfectly balanced from a chemical perspective because they have so many fats in them, in an effort to make them very creamy and emollient. I’m sure that there are quite a number of ways to balance out all of the waxes and butters in a lipstick, arguably this one didn’t get it quite right. Given her enormous following and the years of expectation, it’s not surprising that an imperfect/inconsistent/delicate-to-ship product is generating controversy.
Thank you so much Christine for explaining so clearly your investigations about these lipsticks. As our Australian summers resemble yours, lipsticks are particularly susceptible to melting in transit unless they are packed carefully (and even then they can still melt).
I do like the shades, not ten nudes and a few colours, as is often the case. I particularly like Hot Toddy and Tipsy the best.
I ordered Sofia, Independent and Fussy – all arrived just fine, in one piece and I’m in Missouri in the lovely heat and humidity. The packaging is extra, just like Jaclyn. I hate to see so much attack on a woman trying to make her own way in the beauty biz. I’m super excited for her line! And thank you for your unbiased info as always, I always check your reviews and swatches – you never lead us astray!
I’m glad yours are working well for you! I do think we need to be careful about generalizations – bringing up problems with a product is well within the right of customers; attacking the owner is not, but if there are problems, people should be letting the brand know and they should have their concerns addressed/resolved! 🙂
Totally agree! We’ve all had issues with makeup we have ordered throughout the years from a multitude of brands, but I never thought I should personally attack the owner or creator like it was on purpose. Every issues I’ve had has always been addressed with a replacement as well. It’s part of the downside of shipping delicate things.
This launch didn’t interest me although I have noted the QC problems and glad I passed. I have so many lip products. It’s so easy to just buy a lipstick or gloss?
I’m always impressed with how you handle controversies with products, alerting us, and studying and reporting whether the ones you received have similar issues. I wouldn’t be surprised if the graininess was from the mango butter and temperature changes. Cocoa butter can do that, so I could see other plant butters doing the same thing.
The colors are quite pretty, so I hope the company gets the situation with the alleged impurities (fuzzies; hard grit) addressed and sorted out. If that’s happening, it’s totally unacceptable, and I don’t blame people for being mad about it.
There are definitely enough issues to press pause on the launch for sure – but I know the brand is refunding/replacing, so at least it seems like they’re doing the right thing there.
Yes, that’s very encouraging!
Christine, thank you for your timely and concise report. I look forward to your full review. It looks like I may be covered by dupes for the shades I was interested in. The packaging is beautiful and looks nice. I do hope that if the problems prove real that the company makes good on replacement or reimbursement. I have more respect for Christen Dominique for how she handled her company’s problem.
I know that Jaclyn tweeted today, and I saw her brand’s Twitter also replying to people – but they said they would refund/replace (and this is part of their return policy and that was in place in the beginning, which is good!).
Please take pics of the bottoms with the batch codes. As you know, these shouldn’t have identical batch codes. Also see if there’s a sticker/label under the JH label.
I’m not getting any of these, although they are very nice colors, and I am not a fan of JC. However, I am annoyed at people who throw fits about these smaller YT influencer collections or brands but don’t throw fits at the $h!t tarte or EL or MAC release. Lol I know I’m complaining right now, but the complaining in the beauty community towards these people trying to build their brand is getting tiresome
My thoughts exactly!
I don’t like Jaclyn Hill at all anymore. I watched a couple of her videos way back in the day when I was first learning about makeup and sort of liked her then, but I agree she is fake, annoying, and kind of a shill now. Way different than I remember her being. However, I just don’t watch her, problem solved. I feel like people enjoy ganging up on her and are looking for things to be wrong with her releases. I just don’t understand that. And it always makes me wonder what would happen if people put this kind of outrage and energy into stuff that matters. People are so weird and it’s perplexing.
Wow Christine, thanks for putting up these swatches so quickly and for your very thorough review of the ordering/shipping process. I love some of these shades, and it’ll be awesome to see if I have any dupes. Some of these look very beautiful. I don’t watch Jaclyn, but when I heard of an all nude lipstick collection I was intrigued. These look nicer than Mac’s previous nude releases/collection. I think from last year (?), not sure… The packaging looks extra, haha, not really my style, but if the shades are nice, at this price point they are still very interesting.
Actually, considering what they went through to get to you, sounds like they held up extremely well! Issues aside (real or imaginary), this launch reinforces my desire to stay away from brands or collabs related to “influencers” — it just gets too heated (no pun intended) too fast, and it seems like the reasonable people almost always end up getting drowned out by the fans and anti-fans. Too much drama, too much caring about all the wrong things. No thanks.
Looks like a nice range of neutrals for a variety of skin tones.
So, is it just me, or do these lip swatches actually look a lot *better* than those of similar lipsticks/shades by different brands? To me they all look exceptionally smooth and even in pigmentation and texture.
I’m shocked your trying to justify the Jaclyn Hill lipsticks!! They are contaminated. They all have the same batch number on them. How is that possible?? They have no way of knowing where the contamination is coming from. This is totally unacceptable. My lipstick had hair in it and I never swatched it or anything. That’s just gross. I’m not taking your advice anymore after this.
Hi Rebekah,
This post was published on June 7th before issues with fibers came on my radar, as it wasn’t something I was seeing – I didn’t see any hair. I posted an update here, along with context of what I have experienced in the past (which are less than what some people are having with the Jaclyn lipsticks when it comes to things like lint/fibers) – https://www.temptalia.com/just-what-is-normal-in-your-lipsticks-a-jaclyn-hill-lipsticks-follow-up/
Here is some info I’ve gathered on batch codes after seeing what other brands do… MAC uses the same batch codes across their inventory to some degree – they have batch codes that identify batch 1, 2, or 3 and then the month and date they were made. For example, this means that a lipstick and lipgloss in multiple shades can share the same batch code. Not all of their products have the same codes but they are not specific to shade or to formula. For example, MAC’s recent Electric Wonder launch, there were three batch codes used across five lipsticks and five lipglasses but a few codes were repeated across multiple shades.
Urban Decay’s Vice Lipsticks seem to use unique batch codes, and I went through and looked at the batch codes used for the lipsticks sent in PR (presumably made closely in time together) – I didn’t see repeats across the dozen shades I looked at. I looked on my ColourPop Lux Lipsticks and the recent Blush/Lite Stix, but they don’t have batch codes printed on the actual product that I could find (possibly boxes? but I don’t have any of those boxes at this time).
Hey Christine,
I read your other post on this issue and appreciate the thorough coverage. You mentioned, “I wasn’t aware of the latter two issues until after I wrote my post. I did go back through and look at both the close-up photos I took (which have been there for anyone to view), and I didn’t have fuzziness or fibers that I could see.”
I wanted to point out that in your main photo on this page (the first photo of all the lipsticks lined up–it focuses on the left half of the line-up), I can clearly see fuzzies/lint on two lipsticks in the back row (second from the left, fourth from the left). If I click to your second picture, which focuses on the right half of the lipstick lineup, there’s lint on the fourth lipstick from the right in the back row. In the front row, the rightmost lipstick clearly has a moisture spot (not from sweating, so this is abnormal) that dried, as do several other lipsticks.
Honestly, while viewing your main lipstick photo, I was almost immediately drawn to the large piece of lint on the lipstick in the back row (fourth from the left). I’m not sure if these didn’t show up in your individual shots, if you subconsciously removed them before taking the close-up photos (I’d do something like this lol), or if they blew off in the breeze of an air conditioning or fan. But there’s definitely contamination of these lipsticks.
One theory is that the lipsticks are old and the labels (with the matching batch code) were added much later on top of the white label that can be found if you peel off the top-most, pink label (the bottom label matches the manufacturing location of Jacyln’s ill-fated Vault). I would think the FDA would be able to trace this, so I imagine the bottom label might have something to do with where the components were manufactured. I don’t know for sure, but what I do know is there’s no way different batches of lipsticks (having different formulations) would all be given the same batch code. Impossible. I’ll continue to follow this story just to see where it leads because I’m very interested from a cosmetics chemistry standpoint. Fortunately, I didn’t purchase any of these lipsticks!
Hi Julia,
Per my follow-up post, the idea of one or two pieces of lint is normal to me (I didn’t have any actual fiber-like pieces that I could tell), so they didn’t catch my eye because they were not noteworthy given I’ve seen them often enough in the past, and as I wasn’t aware that that they were issues (as in, problems) being brought up by other people, it wasn’t something that occurred to me to bring up in this post.
In that follow-up post, I actually said that you can see a small piece of lint that’s almost floating off the edge of Sofia (https://www.temptalia.com/product/jaclyn-cosmetics-so-rich-lipstick/sofia/) in particular and that there were a couple others that did have a piece of lint. The fuzziness I’m referring to is having 4-5 pieces of lint-like pieces sticking straight up off the lipstick (like what Kristi saw on hers). Waxiness is also something I’ve seen in other lipsticks (usually the lipstick has sweat but sometimes not – see my follow-up post or: https://www.temptalia.com/product/tom-ford-beauty-lip-color-matte/the-perfect-kiss/ and https://www.temptalia.com/product/bite-beauty-amuse-bouche-lipstick/nearly-neon-orange/
Just as a FYI on batch codes… I don’t know where the idea that they can’t be the same is coming from because it actually does occur with major brands to use the same code across different formulas + shades. If you’re familiar with MAC, they use codes that indicate batch 1, 2 or 3 and then year and date. But they use the same codes for multiple shades and products – e.g. in Electric Wonder, there were a few different batch codes but some lipsticks and glosses shared the same exact code. I look at 9 Tom Ford liquid lip products I had still in boxes (haven’t reviewed), and all 9 have the same batch code (they’re owned by EL, so I imagine it’s similar to MAC’s system). Urban Decay Vice Lipsticks, on the other hand, have a longer batch code and they seem to be unique. I have ColourPop’s Lippie Stix vault they just sent over last week, and they have multiple batch codes across the set, BUT many of the shades share the same 4-digit batch code. You can go to the last photo in the slideshow and read all the batch codes for yourself: https://www.temptalia.com/product/colour-pop-lippie-stix/
I think it can be questioned why they all have the same code to some degree or at the very least suggest that it would be impossible to narrow to which are effected etc. but it’s not actually impossible to use the same code across shades/formulas based on what I’ve seen for batch does used on massive brands like MAC. A lot of brands do not reveal what their batch code means, some you can lookup, like MAC’s batch codes, and learn how to read them. Like I have no idea how to read UD’s Vice Lipsticks’ batch codes, but I don’t know what the digits stand for on Jaclyn’s either.
On the label… PNR is a consultancy that often helps brands distribute internationally, and their UK address is also printed on Coloured Raine and Dose of Colors packaging. If you go to their website, they offer a full range of services related to cosmetic development. The PNR address is on the actual box, too. http://pandrconsultancy.co.uk/ Because PNR can do a lot of things (here’s their website: http://pandrconsultancy.co.uk/) from formulation to regulatory compliance (when I asked three brand owners if they had heard of PNR, they said “oh, they do a lot of international testing”), we don’t know specifically for what purpose they were hired, but we DO know that they are used by other brands beyond Morphe.
Dose of Colors Friendcation palette with PNR listed on the back: https://www.temptalia.com/dose-of-colors-desi-x-katy-friendcation-eyeshadow-palette-review-swatches/
Coloured Raine Safari Raine palette with PNR listed on the back: https://www.temptalia.com/coloured-raine-safari-raine-eyeshadow-palette-review-swatches/
Melt Cosmetics Impulsive palette with PNR listed on the back: https://www.temptalia.com/product/melt-cosmetics-18-pan-pressed-pigment-palette/impulsive/
There are plenty of things wrong with the lipsticks, the formulation (being particularly heat-sensitive), brand’s response, etc. that are worth discussing, questioning, and investigating that information that’s unverified should take a backseat or just completely misleading/wrong (like batch codes having to be unique – just seems to be very easily researched and found to be inaccurate; they can be unique but they don’t have to be!).
These look nice, unfortunately Jaclyn Hill is someone people love to hate. The drama in the makeup community gets tiresome.
I think it’s important to hold people/brands accountable + stand up to say something, but it is also important that we take care not to spread misinformation and be cognizant that it’s easy to go from concerned to getting caught up in the “drama” part rather than staying focused on the actual problem/issue (this is a general statement re: recent things that have occurred in the community).
I can see a hair in your Obsessed. This was reported by many and although you said you could not see anything wrong, I def. noticed that. I think what is troublesome is she made up lies about the facility and what they use or what they did (ie – white cotton gloves… cleaned the vats with the towels, etc.). The mishap could be overlooked if someone came forward (like Dominique did!), but the denial leaves a bitter taste in ones mouth. By the way, I never purchased an items from her or seen a makeup tutorial from here, but after these lies, I definately would never. Just my 2 cents. COME CLEAN!
Hi Karen!
When I originally swatched through and wrote my post, I wasn’t aware that there were reports about lint/fibers being an issue, and those are pretty “normal” to me (none of mine have lots of lint/fiber pieces sticking up, just one small lint piece – read the follow up my post, which is linked in this post – but that’s something I experience across brands regularly enough that it was a nonissue to me). In my follow-up, I link to Sofia, and I mention that I saw small pieces of lint (like one piece) on a couple of other shades – but the whole post is about why that’s small stuff to me. However, I couldn’t confirm issues with lots and lots of pieces (like multiple ones standing up), black balls at the base, long hair, fibers, or issues with the scent. Hope that clarifies!