Last year was LashGate, this year it’s Illusion. This all started last year of October. Apparently they claimed to be the first tanning products that provided specific tans based on your skin tone being cool, neurtal, or warm toned. That’s where the Illusion founder came in to set the record and say that they were the first custom fake tanner, taking into account not just skin but hair and eye color. The Illusion founder was not only claiming that Bondi Sands was creating quizzes asking for skin, hair, and eye color for the perfect tanning shade, but he also claimed Bondi Sands was reaching out to the same influencers that made Illusion’s fake tanner go viral on TikTok. The Illusion founder then publicly said his dream would be for Mikayla to review his tanner.
This is where things get a little messy.
Soon after he posted the video, when Mikayla did an undisclosed sponsored post promoting Bondi Sands fake tanning line. The one that supposedly is a rip off of Illusion’s fake tanning foam.
Of course, everyone was going at it in the comment of Mikayla’s video accusing her of harming a small business. However, despite the Illusion founder going to TikTok to voice his confusion and slight frustration over the matter, Mikayala reached out to him to let him know the video she made wasn’t sponsored. She also didn’t see his video reaching out to her to see if she could review his tanning foam. She promised to review it for everyone. The Illusion found was relieved and ready to partner with Mikayla. Everything seemed to have a happy ending.
For five seconds.
Three months passed. Mikayla didn’t post her review, and the Illusion founder went back on TikTok to call her out. More specifically, throw in the fact that he got himself into a debt of $10,000 for inventory reasons.
Did the Illusion founder reach out to Mikayla privately to see what was going on? Nope. In fact, Mikayla reached out to him saying she was getting a bunch of comments asking when she was going to review his brand the following day. This happened within the first two months after she said she would promote his tanning foam.
So the Illusion founder decided to get a $10,000 loan and put in an order to ensure he had enough inventory to tell his tanning foam once Mikayla posted her video.
Another month passed, and still no video from Mikayla.
Instead, the Illusion founder comes across a recent video of Mikayla looking orange. Not the result you’re supposed to get with Illusion’s fake tan, but people assumed that as Mikayla had been promising she would use it and stated to the Illusion founder that she was using it. But she still didn’t post a review.
This is when the Illusion founder came to the conclusion that Mikayla lied about using his tan and instead got a spray tan, based on how orange she was. He reaches out to her again, stressing the debt he’s in and asking when she would be reviewing his product. She again assures him she will post a review.
She never did.
This whole thing, in my opinion, is messy on both sides. Mikayla should have been upfront and said she wasn’t going to be able to do it as soon as she thought she could. The Illusion Founder shouldn’t have taken out a loan for inventory until he was in close contact with Mikayla, asking for confirmation the day she said she would post her review.
In the end, Mikayla made a statement saying the reason she looked orange was because of a color grading filter she has on all of her videos. Without it, she doesn’t look orange. She ultimately said itthe Illusion founders decision to take out the loan and she wasn’t responsible for the success of his brand.
And she’s right. Ultimately, this is just a PR 101 lesson to always pull up with a contract for any partnership or sponsorship.
