With products such as under-eye masks, moisturizers, lip balms, and more, thereâs absolutely no way that anyone could be disappointed with the popular streamerâs new line, right? Wrong.
The short-lived YouTube streamer skincare line
By Angelika Leal, Contributor
On October 19, 2021, YouTube streamer and longtime content creator Rachell Hofstetter (better known as Valkyrae) launched her brand-new and groundbreaking skincare line: RFLCT.
What made it so groundbreaking, you ask? Because, as the advertisements and website stated, RFLCT works to protect oneâs skin against the harmful effects of blue light exposure. RFLCTâs most prominent ingredient in their products was known as âBLPFâ, a type of SPF but specially made for blue light.
I thought that the idea behind it was particularly interestingâI had never seen anyone come up with something like this before.
With products such as under-eye masks, moisturizers, lip balms, and more, thereâs absolutely no way that anyone could be disappointed with the popular streamerâs new line, right? Wrong.
It was quickly pointed out on Twitter and Reddit that the reason why there arenât many products for blue light exposure is that, well, there isnât really a need for any. People on social media, fans, and regular users alike, pointed out that the âscienceâ page under the now-defunct website rflct.com only had WebMD as its credible source. Furthermore, anyone could easily Google that there are no real long-term effects as RFLCT had suggested.
After criticism over the products started to grow, some streamers that had initially tweeted their support under Valkyraeâs post had deleted their tweets.
Twitch streamer 39daph poked fun at the product on Twitter, tweeting âWhen i [sic] turn on my monitor but forgot my blue light resistant creamâ followed by a funny gif of her shaking. In a later stream, she clarifies that the product itself would be alright if it were remade as a regular skincare line, instead of one that claims to combat blue light.
However, what might have caused Valkyrae the most backlash during RFLCTâs short existence was her handling of the whole situation.
Valkyrae announced that she would go on stream to address the controversy around RFLCT, and it went about as bad as I had expected.
First off, Valkyrae did not apologize. Which, honestly, I didnât think was as bad as people were making it out to beâIâd prefer it if she had a sincere apology (if she felt appropriate) than making a half-assed one to appease people on the internet.
What I thought was immature for her to say, was that she said she knew who her âtrue friendsâ were after all the drama. She said she was âconcernedâ about how none of her friends called her to ask her about why the RFLCT website didnât have any real scientific facts about it. She even continued to name the people that reached out to her and those that didnât.
This, in my opinion, comes across as her deflecting any responsibility that she should have owned up to. As someone who had supposedly been involved in this project for two years, there should have been due diligence on her part as to if the âresearchâ was actually legit. And as Valkyrae was associated with the skincare line, it shouldnât have been up to her friends to point out the problems with her own website; it should be solely up to her and the people working on it.
While I completely understand the amount of stress and emotions Valkyrae mightâve been going through after the backlash, name-dropping friends such as Jacksepticeye and Pokimane on a live stream was never going to work in her favour.
With all that being said, do I think that Valkyrae should have taken more accountability for promoting a snake oil pseudo-science skin-care line? Absolutely.
However, I donât think she deserves all the hate that sheâs been receiving â I donât see Valkyrae as a person who maliciously intended to scam her friends. Her biggest fault in this is her naivety of it all.
