Beauty entrepreneurs Bobbi Brown and Molly Sims have become caught up in a public dispute over the name of a makeup product.
Sims, the founder of YISE Beauty, addressed the controversy on her personal Instagram account Saturday.
In March 2024, Sims introduced YISE Beauty’s $68 Wide Awake Concealer.
Then, last week, Jones Road Beauty, Bobbi Brown’s no-makeup makeup brand, launched a $32 Wide Awake Brightening Concealer.
In an emotional video, Sims said: ‘I don’t normally post stuff like this, but over the last few days, friends, customers, brand partners and retail partners have DM’d, texted and emailed me to say that a brand I love, use and support not only used the exact name of a product I launched two years ago, but that its marketing copy and campaign also feel a little too close to home.’
‘I launched Wide Awake two-plus years ago,’ she continued.
‘It’s one of my best-selling products, and I worked on it for years…’
‘I can’t explain how disappointed — honestly, sad and hurt — I am to see this from another female founder I’ve known for years and looked up to in this industry.’
Beauty entrepreneurs Bobbi Brown, left, and Molly Sims, right, became embroiled in a public dispute over the name of a makeup product
Sims described her five-person marketing operation as ‘small but mighty,’ saying: ‘We have tiny budgets. We are incredibly scrappy.’
She added defiantly: ‘There is room for all of us. All of us. There is room for more women to build great brands, create great products and have great ideas of their own.’
‘We should be inspiring each other, not taking from each other.’
‘As a mom of three, like I tell my kids all the time, I’m not mad at you, but gosh, I am incredibly disappointed,’ she concluded.
In the caption accompanying the post, which has received more than 19,000 likes, Sims wrote: ‘This isn’t about a name. It’s about ideas and the work that goes into bringing something to life. I’m not mad. I’m just incredibly disappointed.’
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Sims did not directly name Jones Road Beauty in the post.
However, Brown responded to Sims from her own personal account shortly afterward.
She wrote: ‘Last week, the Jones Beauty team and I launched Wide Awake neutralizer and concealer.’
Sims launched YISE Beauty’s $68 Wide Awake Concealer in March 2024, left, while Jones Road Beauty, Bobbi Brown’s no-makeup makeup brand, released a $32 Wide Awake Brightening Concealer last week, right
Brown responded to Sims on her personal account following the controversy
‘We didn’t realize Molly Sims had a product with the same name in her YISE Beauty collection. This was a mistake. Before our launch, a trademark search showed no other ownership of the name.’
The statement continued: ‘However, we’re changing our product name moving forward, and will no longer call it Wide Awake. I would never knowingly copy another product’s name.
‘To Molly Sims and her team at YISE, I’m sorry this happened, and we’re taking steps to correct it.’
At the time of writing, Jones Road Beauty’s Wide Awake Brightening Concealer remains available for purchase.
The new product name has yet to be revealed.
Bobbi Brown has since told the Daily Mail: ‘When we launched our new neutralizer and concealer last week, we didn’t realize YISE had a product called Wide Awake, and the trademark search we do before every new product launch didn’t reveal any ownership of the name.
‘Regardless, I have great respect for Molly, YISE, and all my fellow beauty founders, and I would never want to copy another product’s name. So we’re doing the right thing and changing the product name moving forward.’
The Daily Mail has also contacted YISE Beauty for further comment.