Back in January, Kat Von D (tattoo artist, former make up brand owner, musician, reality tv star) announced that she had sold all her shares in her make up company Kat Von D Beauty and was stepping down from owning it. I think everyone was surprised, but not as surprised as you might assume given the past two-years of boycotts and slumping sales (I always saw her stuff on clearance or marked down at Sephora).
I used to be a HUGE Kat Von D fan until two years ago and used to absolutely love her make up and show, so what do I think of this big announcement?
I think like everyone that grew up in the early '00s, I remember seeing Kat on TLC with her show LA Ink and later, when her make up brand debuted I was SO excited! I really loved her foundation and concealer, altho I never tried anything else due to the prices. I watched her youtuber channel and followed her on facebook and instagram and twitter, that was how big of a fan I was.
However.
I started to hear things about her being anti-Semitic and after looking into the claims it just left a bad taste in my mouth. While the claims were never proven and it was more of a "he said she said" situation, it was enough for me to really start questioning who she was as a person. After that, when I would see her show on tv, I couldn't help but see things with a different light. The show was supposed to be about tattooing, but all it was was drama and Kat throwing another "friend" under the bus and burning bridges while playing the victim. Then the whole thing with Jeffree Star happened and after Jeffree showed the text messages and proved that he was telling the truth, it just made her seem like a really vindictive and jealous person. I still followed her on instagram, but I was no longer a big fan of hers and just liked her make up and how she was unapologetically herself and didn't care what anyone thought.
Finally, she posted about being anti-vaxx and her husband started posting about how vaccines cause autism (they don't) and that autism was this huge awful thing that ruined a person's life and I was done. I couldn't continue supporting this person who had once seemed so cool and amazing but had turned into someone completely self-absorbed and holier-than-thou while living in their own little world. I decided enough was enough and stopped using her Lock it foundation and concealer and joined the boycott of her make up brand, even giving away a crate I received that was Kat Von D-themed.
Now she's not only stepped down and sold her company, but almost immediately after, KVD announced that they were in no way connected to her and changed the brand's name from Kat Von D Beauty to Kindness Vegan Beauty and Discovery. They issued multiple statements and replied to many people on twitter that Kat will have absolutely no involvement with the brand including the letter-writing and design of the packages and even said that she will get no money from their future sales.
I don't know about you, but this feels like Kendo (the parent company of KVD Beauty) is trying everything to increase sales and distance itself from Kat as much as possible to help boost sales. After reading everything and considering what's happened, I think I'll be buying from KVD Beauty in the future which I'm pretty excited about since I always liked her foundation and concealer best.
Considering how badly their sales slumped over the past two years and how negatively people have grown to view her brand, I can't help but wonder if KVD Beauty can rebuild and rise from the ashes of what was once a great brand. Was it a little "too little too late"? I, for one, hope the brand will get a better and more positive reputation like a few years ago ♡ I know Kat Von D is a very controversial and disliked person (by some), but I don't think it's fair for KVD to suffer when their products are really good, great quality and vegan and cruelty free.
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