by
Lisa Jean Francois
Beauty Vlogger Alissa Ashley has amassed a huge following in under two years. She has nearing 300,000 subscribers, and with her talent it’s no surprise:
With such an impressive following, it’s no wonder brands such as Too Faced, MakeupGeek, and Anastasia Beverly Hills have Alissa Ashley listed on their PR lists to receive their latest product launches.
Things recently got a little bit hairy for Alissa, however, when she made public a disagreement she had with the owner of Juvia’s Place. According to Alissa’s now-deleted video, she had a pre-existing relationship with Juvia’s Place and was under the impression that she would be receiving the company’s newly-released Masquerade Palette.  When the responses she received from Juvia’s Place were not to her liking, Ashley published the following text message exchange to her twitter account:
Juvia’s Place posted the following message to their Instagram account:
Some twitter users were quick to share their thoughts about Alissa Ashley’s since-deleted tweets:
Others posters on Facebook and Twitter, however, shared their understanding for Alissa’s position.
Vlogger Jackie Aina tweeted:
 I would NEVER step out of my character over free makeup. As an affiliate of Juvia’s Place, me receiving the new releases is something that has been occurring since I began working with them because thats how this works. The lack of communication is what got us here. And I refuse to allow people to paint me out to be a horrible person when that isn’t what I’m about and this video will explain everything
What are your thoughts?
44 Responses
Tbh honest what is worse than her being so entitled is her screen shot-ing the conversation and putting it out on the internet. Please dont be surprised if your actions are then questioned.
It looks like that company really tried her. They agreed to send her a product, she promoted their company, and then when they got a lot of orders they decided to go back on their agreement and not send her anything because they already had the free publicity.
To be honest, if she’s trying to support black owned businesses then that’s exactly what she should do, not expect them to hand out freebies when they are trying to grow their company.
You clearly don’t understand what a contract is . The company owed her the free products and she owed them the tutorial and review because they both entered into a contract and a contract has rights and obligations of both parties. So if Alissa was performing her obligations, juvia’s place must perform theirs too- which they failed to do.
Well i hope she does, maybe it will humble her next time before she does something so tacky and petty. I would have subscribed and followed her if she had conducted herself more professionally. She could have kept their situation private or sent them and her fans a “at this time i cannot support juvia makeup products because of communication issues. I wish them all the best
That’s all I’m saying. Blasting them all over the net is tacky and petty. She could have simply written them a I’m sorry but at this time I can no longer support your business, maybe in the near future…. But for her to do this is like she was trying to hurt them because she didn’t get what she wanted. If she was serious about supporting them she could have bought a palette like everyone said, she had no problem buying Kylies
I didn’t even know who she was or never heard of her before today. This was so over-done over some free makeup. I think I’m on board with some of the girls that said “you bought kylie’s makeup but complained about not getting free makeup from a black company”. Wow and we all know Kylie doesn’t need the money as much as a black company just starting. I would never support her but i will be supporting Juvia
Right? They’ll buy a $60 palette from MAC Cosmetics i.e. a company that only works with makeup gurus with millions of followers… but for a small fledgling black beauty company they won’t pay for it.
You can take the girl out the hood but the hood remains in the girl. She has not learned that things don’t always go your way? Why are you so mad that someone decided not to be jerked around by you and play your school yard games? Why are you begging?
yall have to understand: it’s not just about the freebees. juvia’s place promised to send her the palette weeks before it came out, and alyssa PROMOTED the palette to customers. she ADVERTISED Juvia’s Place, FOR FREE to consumers. so….. why shouldn’t she get the palette? Consumers look to mua’s reviews to see if they should spend the money. it’s a system here. it’s not about complaining that you didn’t get free stuff. As a small business, if you want to grow, you need to have people on your side. Also, juvia’s place had a bad habit of mixing up promo payments between alyssa and her twin sister. ALSO, it’s just completely unprofessional for a company to stop contacting a customer/partner whether they are paid or not. IMO, i wouldn’t have put juvia’s place on blast, i would have just deleted every single bit of promo and not mentioned their names again because, like a lot of people, no one knew who they were!!!! but alyssa owned up to her actions and realized what she did was also wrong so? who cares? besides, none of yall are gonna buy this makeup anyway lol. stick to your mac and nyx. 🙂
That is not an excuse for her to blast them all over the internet. All she had to do was send them a I’m sorry but at this time I can no longer support your products or company until I hear from you or I’m sorry it doesn’t seem to be working out for me so at this time I cannot support Juvia, please feel free to contact me in the near future blah blah blah. She just sounded like a entitled spoiled brat. And like people said, if she really wanted to support them why not just buy a $40 palette. She had no problem buying Kylies. Oh and I don’t buy mac or nyx. I’m all for my people unlike Alyssa
I’ve followed Alissa Instagram before she started Youtube and she doesn’t take nonsense from anyone. She puts people in their place when they try to come for her, so this isn’t surprising. However, with that being said keep things like this in private! You are trying to build a brand, don’t diminish yourself or other companies due to hurt feelings. This is a business relationship, not a friendhsip. She already said she receives freebies form other companies so obviously one less shouldn’t make a difference. There is no way she is the only vlogger/blogger who has been denied or that company went back on an agreement with. I don’t see Michelle Phan, Naptural85, Blair, SunkissAlba, BeatFaceHoney or other beauty personalities doing things like this. Just because you are not in a corp office working 9-5 doesn’t mean you shouldn’t keep things professional. So don’t inadvertently paint the picture that you are a hot head no will want to work with.
Alissa MAY have a right to feel how she feels but this is not professional. The fact that she posted a text message conversation is vortually parallel to how immature high schoolers would react.
Additionally, some commenters seem to have breezed past the part where the company admitted that they are on back order. Therefore, people’s order that have already been PAID for have not been placed. Sorry, but any PAYING customer should come before a shout out or tutorial from a YouTuber.
If she was “promised” a free plalette – unless she received a contract, email confirmation, or any written evidence – then I’m sorry, she’s learned her first lesson in how to conduct a business deal. She decided to jump ship and say things on her Snap with no contractual agreement.
Honestly sorry to sound harsh, but business is business. If YouTubers want the same business respect in the marketing industry, then they need to conduct themselves in that matter.
Sinice we can’t get all the fine details my comments are going to be based on what I’ve read thus far .it seems that Alyssa was promised the palette but never received it and they stopped communicating with her. as a professional it would seem the most not only professional but mature thing to do is if you contact a company that you don’t have a legal contract with, it would seem that if they stopped communicating with you ,that is when you walk away, you cut ties with them and any reviews that you have given them you simply take them down and you move on.
the tone of her texts as they were posted did seem like she was begging them and then making it seem like she was doing them a favor. if someone doesn’t want your support or help you walk away! the only time you take it to the next level is when they owe you money.she seemed to be almost hounding them about it. it wasn’t like she had a legal contract with them. it was an unspoken freelance agreement that afforded her free product products when they saw fit.she wasn’t Under contract or obligation and she needs to understand that. if it anytime they decide to no longer honor it ,it would be professional of them to say “hey we’re not sending you any more Samples” but for her to take it to the level she did was uncalled for. and if there were any curses or foul language used by Juvia that was uncalled for as well. they have a right to pick up and drop Influencers as they see fit. it only hurts them when they don’t pick up and drop influencers in a professional manner. it also does not help influencers who get overly emotional and Overinvolved about being picked up or dropped without notice or without proper courtesy .
this is a lesson for all of them .Juvia professionally shouldn’t never put themselves in a position to look like they don’t know how to conduct business.
a simple email response of”were no longer giving out care packages or we’re we’re not using you as an influencer for our new pallet at this time …we will contact you in the future…”. you know there’s so many ways it could have went. they are very clearly a baby business in its infancy stages Who doesn’t understand how to play the game.
and whether they like it or not they have to learn to play the game there are small business and you want to grow and for them to make comment or reference to how people “ignore them “in the beginning… guess what? they were plenty of big businesses that were ignored in the beginning.do you think they turn around and Slighted all the people going forward after they gained some success? you don’t cut off your nose to spite your face just because you remember when when you were a new startup and didn’t get as much support as you like from the people that you reached out to. not everybody’s willing to take a risk on a startup company and for them to make reference to it shows that whoever is in charge is very Petty and bitter and likely they will sabotage their own business in the long run. Alyssa needs to grow up and if she’s really making this her career &business she needs to learn some better business ethics and behaviors! you don’t blast people regardless of whether you felt right or not.
you’ve lost followers because you kinda acted out over a product you could have easily bought for yourself since you were claiming to be supporting the business yet there are plenty other non black businesses products that she purchased without making a big stink about it. she did behave in an entitled manner the fact that she needed to stay and remind them in the text of who she’s worked with prior and how she always gets the items prior to the launch or at the beginning of the launch that was to let them know that she felt she deserved it because that’s what’s happened to her in the past that’s called entitlement !! just because you got it before doesn’t mean you’re entitled to it again .she didn’t come off professionally she came off very whiny and begging and then she went from those two emotions to ” I’m just trying to help you” …then ” I’m hurt” !! it became about HER being the victim! Lolreally?
Very well written! Your opinion is the same as what I was thinking but couldn’t articulate. I’d love to read some of your reviews. Do you mind sharing your website?
If she was promised the make up in advance, she should have received it!
Never liked her. How about actually buying their product since you wanna support so bad, you know, like the rest of us?
Some publicity here.. I have never heard of this brand until now..
Wow what a bitch!
Considering her OWN texts to the company contradicts what she later released… Seems like she’s using her position as an influencer to try to extort free product out of the company. Shame on her.
Ummm I’m going to need everyone to stop trying her. People like to be really extra without even knowing the full story and the article itself is one sided. You really think this is about a free palette? Juvia’s Place had promised to send Alissa the palette weeks in advance so she went ahead and promoted it told her snapchat subscribers about it and how excited she was to do a look with it. After the free promos and shout outs that is when the company decided they weren’t going to send her the palette at all because hey since she already said some nice stuff why should we scratch her back? It’s not about her being “entitled”. She was trying to spread the wealth within the black community. That’s why us as black people can never prosper, cause we can’t stand scratching each other’s backs. This company wants free publicity without any price, you want black beauty gurus but as soon as drama pop up you drag them through the mud. Black people have a major problem with unification. Do you even know why she was trying to boost up so many black owned makeup brands? Because as a YouTuber as her main job she knows that that’s how she can make a difference, by keeping some money flowing in our communtity but do you guys care? Probably not, just want to drag someone down before you boost them up.
1. “As an affiliate of Juvia’s Place, me receiving the new releases is something that has been occurring since I began working with them because thats how this works… ” So has she been getting freebies from Juvia’s in the past?
2. Even if she’s gotten freebies from Juvia’s in the past it wouldn’t hurt to just buy the palette to support the business, especially if she knows they have good products.
3. I don’t wear a lot of make up so I can’t feel her pain over this situation. : Maybe if she provided a screenshot of response from Juvia’s that made her so upset?
And she has now privatized her video telling her side of the story ?
I am so disappointed in Alissa. I look to her for my makeup inspiration and how tos. How could she feel so entitled to receive a free makeup pallette from a new business???? Like, how? Did she ever stop to think of the fact that Juvias Place is still growing and may not have “free merch” for influencers? They’re doing great, but that doesn’t mean they can dish out free products like some multimillion dollar companies that have been in the game longer can. I actually heard about JP via Alissa and plan to make a purchase to support a sista and her business. And it’s great that Alissa featured them way back when…but don’t feel entitled to freebies. If she truly believes in supporting Black-owned businesses then MAKE A PURCHASE. I believe she is a good girl with good intentions, but her channel grew so rapidly (I remember when she had 13K subscribers) and now the virtual fame seems to be going to her head. Instead of making videos for the fun and helpfulness of it, everything is about the coins. So sad to see one of my fave beauty gurus succumb to “swole head” syndrome, smh. Get it together, Alissa, before folks turn on you like they did when Raven Elyse & Vicky Logan’s true, ugly nature reared its racist head. Be kind and humble because the makeup on your face can go but so far.
I do not agree with the comments about this woman being ‘entitled’. If anyone has paid attention to beauty bloggers or Youtube gurus, they should know that this is how the modern business works. Brands seek out this Youtube personalities and send them free products to review. If a volgger has thousands of views and likes your product you get millions of free views and potential customers for free. The Youtube person is mainly going to be paid via views. so it is a win-win for each party. I have followed some women who ask their viewers what brands or products they’d like to see reviewed on their channel. As a woman of color, we request color swatches and new releases because most of these companies are not thinking about black women, or we’re not sure if the new products are brown and black girl friendly.
In my opinion, this is no different than a designer or Nike asking to dress athletes or movie stars. The clothing and shoes are provided for free so that the brand can have their name dropped for free. Hell, if the person really likes the brand, they will repeatedly wear it and be seen in their items. Free advertisement.
Maybe it is because I am younger, or more unplugged from television and view the internet more, but this is the new normal. I remember when the big problem was viewers being mad when volggers were not disclosing the fact that they were reviewing sponsored products. That is when you get a product and are paid to review it. So not only does the company has rights over your review, but you get a fee upfront and money additionally from the views from your channel. People were saying that they loved products that were trash just to get the extra money and viewers were pissed.
I do not like the way the woman handled the situation, but that is about growing in life and professionalism. I see where she is coming from and I understand that her free advertisement has been beneficial for the company. I do not see her as entitled at all.
Food for thought: Every volgger who has admitted to merely doing beauty or product reviewers for free samples has not be super successful. Especially those of color. This is because companies know that there is no passion in the content this volggers put out and the videos are not produced regularly. If you just want free products but aren’t doing the work to put out quality videos, it shows and brands don’t want to work with you, nor do viewers want to watch your productions.
300,000 subscribers is not a lot. Especially not in this day and age when top YouTubers have tens of millions of subscribers. A lot of the YouTubers that are really popular and get free everything are working for 5+ years before they get to that level. She definitely needs to sit down and pay her dues before she event thinks about getting free stuff from every single company.
I can think about myself in my profession. Part of my job is reviewing smartphones and other gadgets and a lots of companies send me review models. I have such a rapport with a lot of companies that I often get review models at the same time or even sooner than a lot of publications that are ranked higher than mine.
But there are a lot of instances where I don’t review models right away or even at all. Neither me nor my company are in the position to be purchasing every single phone that comes onto the market. So if manufacturers aren’t willing to send review models I’m just not able to review those devices. And I don’t think anything of it because when I tell you I’m drowning in smartphones, tablets, smartwatches, VR headsets etc already — lol. Sometimes I have to do more anecdotal coverage of devices without a full review or just not cover certain devices. Sometimes it comes around where I may not get one generation of a device, but I’ll get the next – because launch cycles go by so fast it’s crazy.
I even know sometimes the bigger name publications will still go out and purchase devices for different purposes, like water/drop/torture tests because companies are not going to just send you free shit so you can turn around and destroy it. Or they’ll purchase products so they can give a completely unbiased opinion.
Sometimes, I do need to push a little bit to get the things I need from companies to do my job. But by no means do I think anything is owed to me. Maybe I’ll grumble to myself or my colleagues if I can’t get a device, but I’m not blasting companies all over social media because the truth is they owe me nothing. And I owe them nothing. At the end of the day it’s just my job. It’s just a transaction between companies. But personally, I’m still in awe and giddy that I even have companies in my inbox on the daily begging to send me their products to review.
This is why black businesses sometimes fail. Too many black people want free things and discounts because they think they are doing the black business owners a favor. I doubt she would cop this attitude with a white business. Too faced and such are huge brands, what’s a free palette here and there for them. For Juvia’s Place, a much smaller franchise, we should support them by BUYING their stuff, not asking for freebies and copping an attitude in the process.
There is a level of disrespect towards black business owners, a jealousy towards them that they dare to succeed, so drama is created to put them in their place. She can buy products from Kylie or whatever other white girl with fake lips emulating black culture and support them to get off the ground, but with your own people suddenly you want a freebie?
Its disgusting what this woman tried to do. I love Juvia’s Place’s very brief response.
I find this so ridiculous. I hope she doesn’t lose any of her fans because of this mess
I am so disappointed in Alissa. I look to her for my makeup inspiration and how tos. How could she feel so entitled to receive a free makeup pallette from a new business???? Like, how? Did she ever stop to think of the fact that Juvias Place is still growing and may not have “free merch” for influencers? They’re doing great, but that doesn’t mean they can dish out free products like some multimillion dollar companies that have been in the game longer can. I actually heard about JP via Alissa and plan to make a purchase to support a sista and her business. And it’s great that Alissa featured them way back when…but don’t feel entitled to freebies. If she truly believes in supporting Black-owned businesses then MAKE A PURCHASE. I believe she is a good girl with good intentions, but her channel grew so rapidly (I remember when she had 13K subscribers) and now the virtual fame seems to be going to her head. Instead of making videos for the fun and helpfulness of it, everything is about the coins. So sad to see one of my fave beauty gurus succumb to “swole head” syndrome, smh. Get it together, Alissa, before folks turn on you like they did when Raven Elyse & Vicky Logan’s true, ugly nature reared its racist head. Be kind and humble because the makeup on your face can go but so far.
Naw, I’m on her side with this one, she has stated that they had a previous discussion months ago about the palette and that should would receive one, to promote and such. Her buying Kylie cosmetics has nothing to do with it, if her viewers asked her to review a product and she wasn’t getting that product from a company to promote she would have to go buy it herself. Where as JC, agreed to send her the palette already months ago, if she takes the time to make YouTube videos and editing them and helping a brand with more sales, and they already stated to send her the product to review, I don’t see how she is “entitled” her channel is her business, just like JP is a business. She shouldn’t have posted the texts but JP was completely out of line by the way they were talking to someone who supported their brand. Period.
I was actually coming back here because I was just on her YT account. It seems that things maybe a bit more murky than what I previously thought.
lol after seeing that comment about how she was willing to buy kylie products to review but demands a free porduct from a black owned company definitely put a salty taste in my mouth. Not cute behavior. at all. SHe needs to have several seats and sip a big cup of humbleness.
She is 100% in the wrong and for her to think that posting those texts would somehow vindicate her is baffling. Many of these YT “stars” are too much.
I actually agree with her (probably the only one who works in this field). If you want “free publicity ” then you need to give the influencer the product for free. It’s not a lifetime supply. It’s one palette. If you can’t spare a palette because you are having supply issues with your actual orders, then say so. The alternative is having her buy a palette and then charge you for the promotion… a palette is a much lower cost. I’m all for promoting black business but if this business wants to stomp with the big boys and use influencers with this large of s following, then send the girl some product!
The problem is that according to Alissa (I watched her video before she deleted it) in the end the owner said she will send the palette free of charge. Alissa was not impressed because it got out of stock and she kept pushing. The owner explained that she had been overwhelmed with demand and then they clashed because Alissa was getting in her feelings. I do not condone the language the owner used with her but in the end if Alissa was not happy she could have just passed on it and do another look. Juvia’s place did not seemed bother of her not doing a video about the palette. Why was she so pressed?
That is a good point.
“Thank you. Stay blessed.” is going to be my response to bullshit for at least the rest of the week….
The entitlement that some of these influencers have is disgusting. As an influencer myself, We don’t need any more people looking at us and thinking we’re annoying and naggy like that. It makes us look bad.
Alissa Ashley needs to have several seats _/ _/ _/ _/
xo
lipstickvillain.com
I don’t think she should be asking/begging anyone to send her free products. If she is that interested in the company and wants to try their product she should purchase it. I personally always wonder how biased product reviews are when people don’t actually purchase the product.
Support black owned businesses by showing you believe in the product and purchase the product!
What was she thinking. She has more than enough coins to buy the product. Why would she even trip or even post this? #NoBueno Seems it may have done more hurt than good.
Sigh
She’s stupid because now that she has been put on blast; their gonna get the support she though she was trying to give and she looks like a begging ass idiot! That’s sad! If you wanna support, support without expecting handouts.
Hilarious
This comes off as an entitled rant. Outside of YouTube – who really recognizes her off the street? And it makes me think she would never disrespect a brand like this if the owner wasn’t Black.
Agree with the posters who called her out on it. That was not cool to try and make them look bad, just b/c she did not get a freebie. Bigger companies can afford to send that out, but a struggling company cannot. In fact, the old saying is true. No Publicity is Bad Publicity. I will most definitely buy a couple for my daughters. Just to support them.