Kylie Jenner Responds To Lab Photos Backlash

Kylie Jenner is certainly no stranger to backlash — but she decided to respond to a post calling her out over images of her in a cosmetics lab.

Of course, Kylie is the face of Kylie Cosmetics — and her latest social media posts featured her in a lab mixing pigments, standing by a giant foundation mixer, and walking through the facility.

In a TikTok vlog of the experience, Kylie says, “We are in Milan for 24 hours to visit all of the makeup factories to check on new Kylie Cosmetics stuff coming.”

On her own Instagram, Kylie shared a series of pictures of her with the caption, “In the lab creating new magic for you guys better than ever.”

However, the posts quickly garnered criticism as people noted that Kylie wasn’t wearing any PPE beyond a lab coat:

One person to call out Kylie was Emmy-winning makeup artist Kevin James Bennett. In a post on his own page, he wrote in the caption, “Kylie is gaslighting her followers into thinking she is creating cosmetics. And I’d like to know what ignorant manufacturer (in Italy) let her stage this photo-op in their lab and on the manufacturing floor — without following proper sanitation protocols.”

“Folks, this is not the way we create cosmetics and misrepresents how our industry works. Credible manufacturers follow STRICT sanitation protocols to protect you,” he continued, before adding the hashtag “ShameOnYou.”

It looks like this post in particular got to Kylie, as she personally replied. “Kevin — this picture is not taken in a manufacturing facility,” she wrote.

“I would never bypass sanitary protocols and neither would any other celeb or beauty brand owner. That’s completely unacceptable, I agree.”

“This is a small personal space creating my own fun samples and taking pictures for content, nowhere near the mass manufacturing. No one is putting customers at risk! Shame on you Kevin for spreading false information!!!!” she said.

However, Kevin wasn’t a fan of Kylie’s response: “So you were standing on a platform, looking into an expensive homogenizing kettle that had processed at least 50 liters of a complexion product (the product still covering the mixing paddles) without PPE or your hair tied back, wearing a @weareregi lab coat? But this is not a cosmetics manufacturing facility? It’s a personal space? Wow, there’s some serious gaslighting going on here.”

@kyliejenner shame on me? NO, shame on you or whoever takes care of your social media for trying to gaslight everyone into thinking I’m the one to blame. Just take responsibility for your mistake and move on,” he wrote in a follow-up comment.

That being said, the makeup artist did note that Kylie wasn’t the only celebrity to have made such content — Selena Gomez also shot a video where she appeared to mix makeup with no PPE. “I only saw the Kylie post because so many people DM’d me to go to the @kyliejenner IG account and comment on the total disregard for sanitation protocols at a cosmetic manufacturer,” he wrote. “Interesting…I wonder why folks were quicker to throw Kylie under the bus than Selena?”