In 2019, controversial YouTubers Jeffree Star and Shane Dawson’s “Conspiracy” collection of make-up products generated $35 million in revenue, according to Dawson’s YouTube docu-series. Makeup and skincare have also emerged as a remarkably profitable side hustle for online content creators. Nicknamed the “ Queen of YouTube” by The New York Times, her first drop of branded clothing in September 2021 had more 20,000 orders on the first day, potentially generating between $600,000 and $1 million in revenue, according to estimates from gaming site Dexerto. This year has seen Hofstetter’s star continue to rise, with the streamer appearing in a Machine Gun Kelly music video, becoming a co-owner of esports organization 100 Thieves, and starring in a League of Legends hype video alongside Lil Nas X. “It takes days or months to receive the same amount of blue light from a screen that you'd get in minutes from the sun,” she says. However, Wong says even gamers who spend hours or even days in front of their computers aren’t getting enough blue light to have a negative impact on their skin. The RFLCT site claims that a patented “blue light prevention formula” in its facial cleanser, lip balm, eye mask, and face moisturizer is “a supercharged antioxidant that shields your skin from blue light damage.” The National Academy of Sciences concluded in 2015 that light from screens can impact your sleep cycle and circadian rhythm. A 2019 study from the National Library of Medicine concluded that blue light from devices caused users to blink less, leading to digital eye strain. There are proven detrimental side effects of blue light exposure - but not for your skin. Though blue light does emanate from electronic screens, the main source that we receive it from is from the sun. Valkyrae via Twitter The science behind RFLCTīlue light can harm your eyes, but what about your skin?īlue light is a common form of electromagnetic energy, traveling through the air in short high-energy waves. What started out as a seemingly innocuous merch announcement has snowballed into a PR snafu, but Hofstetter is just part of a more worrying trend.Īs streamers and influencers use their popularity to expand into new markets like skincare, it’s exposing fans to junk science and questionable products you wouldn’t expect to see on a video game stream. “Based on the current evidence, they're not very damaging to your skin,” Wong tells Inverse. and cosmetic chemist with 290,000 YouTube subscribers, agrees that blue light skincare solves a “problem” that doesn’t actually exist. Michelle Wong, an Australia-based chemistry Ph.D. So is RFLCT just a cash grab based on Valkyrae’s online popularity and good looks? Dr. “I do enjoy being a fan of Rae & everyone, but this is 100% taking advantage of an impressionable young audience to peddle pseudoscience,” wrote one Twitter user. “I wanted to create something that would help not just myself, but everybody with a life in front of screens,” Hofstetter wrote in a now-deleted tweet, adding that RFLCT had been in development for more than two years. The 29-year-old video game streamer best-known for playing Among Us with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was selling a new product called RFLCT, a skincare line designed to protect its users from the electronic blue light emitted by phones or screens. On October 19, Rachel Hofstetter, known to her 3.5 million YouTube followers as Valkyrae, made an unexpected announcement.
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