Jeffree Star, Kylie Jenner, Jennifer Gerard, the list goes on and on about pop culture icons beginning their own beauty lines. Their products cause servers to crash and people to shell out hundreds of dollars for a handful of products that they could have gotten "dupes" (or a very similar product) at their local beauty store. Each of these figureheads of beauty has done something egregious to their loyal customers, and yet, their sales are still at record highs, and show no sign of slowing down.

First, we'll start with an incident involving Gerard Cosmetic's CEO, Jennifer Gerard. While watching videos of bad reviews of her products in 2015, another beauty legend, MannyMUA recorded Gerard say that one of the reviewers was "the ugliest person ever". It was later revealed that Gerard Cosmetics would only agree to send free products to YouTubers if they only said positive things about their brand. If this doesn't scream out dangerous, even to those that do not actively engage in the makeup community, here is the neon sign spelling it out: these are troubling tactics that can give customers a false sense of security about the quality of their purchases. Because of this, Jaclyn Hill decided in August of 2015 to sever her working, personal, and monetary ties to Gerard Cosmetics. Even though the use of such alarming publicity deals,appalling comments on the people that literally fund their company, and even a popular vlogger deciding to separate from their brand, Gerard Cosmetics continues to sell big, and has carved out their spot as one of the most problematic brands still in business today.

But this article would not be complete without the reigning KWEEN of makeup at the moment, Kylie Jenner. In the short few months that Kylie Cosmetics has existed, there have been more scandals that could easily have its own article in and of itself. Most recently, Kylie's company has come under fire for things like copying their formula, sending out barely full products for full price, faulty lip gloss brushes, and poor working environments. To top all of this off, most of these issues are still unresolved, with many unhappy customers unable to get refunds or replacements from customer service. Despite the obvious flaws in the brand and products, because of her name and influence, her products will still sell out in minutes, sometimes seconds.

Let's not forget who originally called out Kylie for her lip gloss wands in the first place, ruler of problematic comments, overly lavish lifestyles, and makeup mogul Jeffree Star. While Star's cosmetics are some of the most top rated from an indie brand (if you could even call his brand indie due to the sheer number of his customers), he often says and does things that make people that are not die-hard fans question why a customer can support someone so heinous. Star has faced several scandals in this year alone that call his outlandish personality into question after videos are found where he says that he would pour battery acid on an African American woman who was sitting right in front of him, as he was putting makeup on her. Not only this, but he called out a review for "attention seeking" and "slander" that he admits that he did not watch in full, and even made fun of a fellow makeup vlogger because of a misconstrued comment. Jeffree Star's antics gives YouTube stars and makeup entrepreneurs a bad name. Because of his obvious racism, intolerance of needed criticism, and overall pettiness, one would think that this would halt his profits. In actuality, Star has generated more business than ever, releasing a summer collection of his matte lipsticks, which retail online for $18/each or a bundle of all five for $75, with around $8 of shipping fees. Let's not forget the fact that Star is also claiming copyright on any videos of him that portray him in a negative light, but none that are positive... Coincidence, much?

So, taking into account all of the mistakes that have been consistently made by these companies, the question still remains: Why do we as consumers let these people continue their shenanigans by giving them our money?

Maybe it's because consumers feel the need to buy what everyone else has already bought.

There is always this desire to have the newest, best thing, so when makeup brands that we may not necessarily agree with come out with a product that gets a lot of people buzzing, it's hard to ignore. Pressure from friends and positive reviews are ways that companies can sell their products, and they are some of the best ways to generate money as well.

Maybe it's the need to assert some kind of status over people who may have never heard of, or don't have the money to pay for the brand.

Even though there are plenty of good, cheap makeup companies currently on the market, slapping a celebrity's name on a formula can make products two to three times more expensive than they would have been on their own. While some of the money must be split to pay the celebrity, is there any significant difference between the non-endorsed $6 lipstick compared to the $30 one?

Either way, no matter how hard people stand on their soapboxes and complain, these people will still be making much more in a single day than I would in my entire life. I respect their efforts and their drive, however I think that their business practices can be seen as lazy, childish, selfish, and most of the time just rude. I personally cannot support brands that do not care about their customers, which is why I will never ever be purchasing makeup from Gerard Cosmetics, Kylie Cosmetics, and Jeffree Star Cosmetics.

What are your thoughts on why people spend money on these types of people? Are there any other brands that have been known to do the same thing? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!