The RealiTEA of The Beautiful World of Jeffree Star
Image Courtesy: IMBD
Shane Dawson and Jeffree Star have teamed up yet again to bring another groundbreaking series to the internet. The pair's first YouTube series, The Secret World of Jeffree Star, raked in millions of views and displayed Jeffree's more vulnerable side, while Shane boasted his storytelling abilities. The series entailed Shane and his cameraman, Andrew, filming Jeffree for a few days to get an inside look at the multimillionaire's lifestyle—showcasing stuff like his closet, house, and office space. The delicious combination of Jeffree's dramatic personality and Shane's quirky commentary made fans burst with anticipation for what the duo would create for season two—and spoiler alert, it's just as good as the first series and we're only two episodes in.
The Beautiful World of Jeffree Star thus far has been nothing short of fantastic. This season revolves around Shane creating a collection with Jeffree's makeup brand, Jeffree Star Cosmetics, and promises to show the full process from start to finish—even all the nitty-gritty details of the beauty community. For a quick recap of the season, episode one focused on Shane traveling to a meet and greet at a Morphe store grand opening with Jeffree, while the second episode was centered around Shane's first step in creating his pallet with JSC. The first episode was a nice opener to the season and foreshadowed some of the twists and turns the season would take, some of which were highlighted in episode two.
Episode two was special in its regard because it revealed the process influencers take when doing deals with brands—yes, we're talking dollars here, and millions of them. It's been a taboo subject, but people have always wondered how much influencers make when collaborating with a brand. What percentage goes to the brand versus the influencer? How much money does the influencer make? Being a successful makeup and merch company owner, Jeffree stepped up to the plate and revealed that many influencers get scammed out of the money they deserve, sighting his friend Nikkie Tutorials (no, that's not her real last name, just her YouTube alias) as a prime example. The story goes that Nikkie, who already had millions of subscribers at the time, teamed up with the well-known brand Two Faced Cosmetics. When an influencer, like Nikkie, teams up with a makeup brand, they typically pick things like the shades in an eyeshadow pallet, packaging, and
liquid lipstick colors (the influencer uses the brand's formula, while the brand uses the influencer's name and fans to sell products). Two Faced infamously paid her a flat fee of $50,000 for her creative effort, and then went on to sell at least $10,000,000 worth of product using her name—do you see the problem here? Shane, obviously disgusted, was shocked at the numbers behind everything and self-reflected on his bad deals in the past. This episode was so important because it showed YouTubers and influencers, in general, their worth and what a business meeting should look like for them, hopefully empowering them to demand more positive business deals for themselves in the future.
The series has already delivered on some of the drama promised in the teaser video, but it's about to heat up with episode three. The third episode promises to dig into cancel culture within the beauty community and will showcase some of Jeffree's own drama (did someone say James Charles?) that fans literally cannot wait to hear about. Like the second episode, we are sure the third will commentate on topics that haunt the YouTube community, primarily the toxic nature of cancel culture, and us, along with millions of others, anxiously await Shane's post notification.
Strike Out,
Writer: Emily Waters
Editors: Gillian McKendree and Savannah Tindall
Tallahassee