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James Charles apologized to Lauren Conrad after he blasted her beauty line for sending him empty packaging in a PR box

"The Hills" star Lauren Conrad explained that she accidentally sent James Charles the empty packaging for her new makeup products.
"The Hills" star Lauren Conrad explained that she accidentally sent James Charles the empty packaging for her new makeup products. Instagram/@jamescharles, Rachel Murray/GettyImages
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James Charles apologized to a female celebrity for criticizing her makeup line launch for the second time this month, after he previously subtweeted singer Alicia Keys' new skincare line.

This time, the beauty YouTuber apologized to Lauren Conrad, former castmember of "The Hills," after he bashed a PR package from her new line Lauren Conrad Beauty.

Charles initially posted an Instagram story of himself opening and complaining about the PR box, which contained empty packaging for the liquid highlighter and eyeliner in the product launch. Charles didn't identify it as Conrad's brand, but he showed the empty products.

 

"OK, so I have already been having a really weird day. Maybe one day I'll tell you guys about it, but honestly probably not because I probably can't. But I've just really been sitting here thinking 'Could this day actually get any weirder or any worse?' And it just did," Charles said on his story.

"I just opened a PR package from a new makeup brand from someone who has no business having a makeup brand and I just wanted to show you guys some of these products."

Charles then showed the camera an empty liquid highlighter container that also didn't have a cap on it and wasn't sealed, followed by an eyeliner pen with no ink. 

"Like, stop, stop making makeup brands. Stop. Stop," Charles said. He followed up the Instagram story with another video of himself after calming down and said "I truly feel tested by the universe, I feel like reality show cameras are going to walk out and say 'Gotcha' any minute."

Conrad then identified the PR package as hers and explained the empty packaging was her mistake 

In an Instagram comment, Conrad identified the PR package as her brand, and wrote that it was her fault the empty packaging made its way to Charles. 

 

"The woman who put together the gifts (it was me) decided to fill a makeup bag full of empty samples to make sure everything would fit inside," Conrad wrote. "When beauty products arrived and it was time to fill all the makeup bags she (again, me) accidentally included the bag full of empties with the others and it was sent out."

After Conrad's explanation, some of her fans criticized Charles' attitude, while his fans defended that Conrad shouldn't have made the mistake of sending empty packaging. Charles, however, posted an apology on his story.

"I've been on the verge of tears all day long from a ton of things going wrong & opening her PR package was the icing on the cake of weird things happening today," Charles wrote. "My stories talking about the products were supposed to be funny but they just came across as nasty because I was so upset, not with her, but with other things that happened today. Lauren and I spoke privately about the misunderstanding & are both good."

Previously, after attacking Keys (also not by name, initially), Charles admitted he had been subtweeting the singer and had been in the wrong about writing "people who do not wear makeup should not be coming out with makeup brands" in a since-deleted tweet. In his Notes app apology, Charles wrote he wasn't the "gatekeeper" of makeup.

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Kat Tenbarge was formerly a senior reporter on Insider's digital culture desk. She served as an influencer watchdog, technology reporter, and culture writer. She was recognized as a 2018 White House Correspondents' Association Scholar. Her work has previously appeared in Teen Vogue, The Washington Post, Inverse, The Columbus Dispatch, and more. She holds a B.S. in Journalism and a B.A. in Environmental Studies from Ohio University's Honors Tutorial College. Popular Articles A woman featured on YouTube star David Dobrik's channel says she was raped by a Vlog Squad member in 2018 the night they filmed a video about group sex Jeffree Star accusers say the makeup mogul has a history of sexual assault, physical violence, and hush-money offers Myspace-famous musician Dahvie Vanity was accused of child sex abuse for years. Now the FBI is involved. At the hair-dye company Arctic Fox, an influencer boss created a toxic workplace and used homophobic slurs, former employees say Belle Delphine is a next-generation porn star, trolling followers for clicks and controversy