My Two Cents on a Silly Argument

Kat von D

This week - or did it start last week? - a little celeb-drama broke out between two formerly good friends: Kat von D and Jeffree Star. I had heard of Kat von D through the show Miami Ink, where she was a tattoo artist. After some time she left the show and that tattoo shop to open her own shop in Los Angeles, where she also started her own tattoo reality show known as LA Ink. The shows were both quite good, and as we centered more on Kat, we got to see more of who she is and get a broader taste of her bold, dark style. Then the show kind of faded out and the next time I heard of her was through youtube beauty videos, where her make up line was mentioned.

Kat von D liquid lipsticks

The beauty vloggers I saw use her products praised it, and it did look good, but as I saw the packaging of the products were very Kat von D, reflecting her bold, tattooed, dark style, which, well, I'm not so much into make up, but een if I were, I doubt I would buy any of them, because of the way the packaging looks. She has a line of lipsticks that come in thick, studded, black tubes that truly make a statement about her style. If I had to explain his difference, I would say hat my style in this particular matter would be more like an animé drawing - softer, barely there, just suggested - while Kat von D's style goes more for the comic drawing style, full of details and with bold lines. Too bold for me.

Jeffree Star liquid lipsticks. Picture taken from google.com

The some of the same beauty vloggers I follow used another brand of make up called Jeffree Star. This brand belongs to this Jeffree Star. I didn't know it at the time, but he used to be a huge social media personality and a musician. When I saw the products from his line, I was sure I would definitively never buy them, again, because of how the containers look. These are just too sparkly, shiny and... Barbie pink.

Anyway, from one end to the other, neither Kat's line nor Jeffree's was for me. And, again, it's ok, I hardly use make up, and when I do I go for drugstore brands, Oriflame and KIKO Milano.

Jeffree Star. Picture from google.com

Recently, Kat von D posted a video where she let people know that Jeffree and her were best friends, but that he had let her down in many ways, the last being that she found out that he had a friend of hers (whom she introduced to him) design the logo of his brand and then never paid him. The case spiraled out because it seems that there have been several drama cases with Jeffree star recently, where he often lashed out against his fans and other people in a quie nasty way, and then often erased his own comments. This didn's sit well with many people, many making ccomments about it, videos about it and then distancing themselves from his brand. The final straw, however, was Kat's video. Jeffree was forced then to reply with a video of his own, bands were formed and the topic went viral. (For those who know about them. Both Kat and Jeffree are relatively small names compared to other celebrities and their very public dramas.) The videos and comments and posts about the matter haven't ceased since, teams being formed, and all that.

I have no real reasons to take part in this drama. I've seen both videos and I saw faults in both of them. I personally think that Kat von D was a bit classier, but she also did a measure of gratuituous bashing. Jeffree on the other hand, felt like making excuses, presenting "evidence" where things didn't quite fit. And throwing heaps of trash on Kat. Whatever the case, Kat's seems more sound than Jeffree's, specially since so much dirt has been surfacing from him recently, and the way Kat also framed her video.

From this whole thing what stuck to me was the feeling Kat shared in her video, about breaking up with a friend, and the sense of betrail that comes from having someone you consider a best friend to abuse of your friendship and thinking so little of it, of you, as to scam your friend and walk away. This case, this part cut very close to home for me, as I remembered my situation with someone who used to be my very best friend of almost 20 years. Breaking up a friendship can hurt much more than breaking up with  significant other, because you actually expect your friends to be eternal, to be there forever, to share forever. Breaking up with a friend comes with heartbreak as well.

Whomever is right in the Kat-Jeffree case, I believe it's not out place to judge or take parts, but as we witness the case we can see a fallout that comes with pain, with sad hurt as a relationship ends. For good or for bad, it must hurt them. If they were really good friends, if they were really close, if they did loved each other, it hurt them. They might be right about each other, they might be better without each other, just as I'm better without my toxic best friend, but the gaping wound that's left after ripping out a friendship takes a long time to heal.