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Sunday Riley’s journey in the skincare industry is a captivating story of ambition, success, and controversy. The brand, once an underdog in the saturated beauty market, has transformed into a mainstream luxury skincare name with a devoted cult following. This growth can largely be attributed to the founder herself; however, it has also been marred by scandals and criticisms that raise questions about the brand’s integrity.
Riley’s passion for skincare began in her childhood when she was inspired by the timeless beauty of Marilyn Monroe. Driven by her love for both science and skincare, she pursued a chemistry degree at the University of Texas. Despite the challenges of establishing a brand as a single mother, she launched Sunday Riley Modern Skincare in 2009, coining the term “green technology” to describe her blend of effective, scientifically-backed ingredients enriched with botanicals.
Initially, the brand struggled to gain traction. However, everything changed when it secured a spot at the luxury retailer Barneys, eventually leading to its launch at Sephora. The latter partnership skyrocketed sales, particularly thanks to products like “Good Genes,” which gained a cult following among beauty enthusiasts and celebrities alike.
Yet, just as the brand was gaining momentum, it faced a major scandal. In 2018, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) launched an investigation into Sunday Riley after a whistleblower revealed that employees were instructed to write fake glowing reviews for the brand’s products and to downvote negative ones on Sephora. Internal emails surfaced, exposing a detailed strategy for manipulating online reviews—a practice that went on for years. The FTC settled the case without fine, raising eyebrows and further damaging the brand’s image.
In the wake of the review scandal, questions emerged around Riley’s credibility. It was revealed that she had misrepresented her educational background. Although she claimed to have studied chemistry, it was confirmed that she never graduated. This lack of transparency regarding her qualifications as a formulator led to further skepticism about her credibility.
Despite these controversies, Sunday Riley has maintained a large and loyal customer base, primarily due to the perceived effectiveness of its products. Many fans appreciate the fast results and quality of the skincare line. The brand has also been recognized for its sustainability efforts, cruelty-free practices, and charitable contributions.
However, criticisms linger about product quality and workplace dynamics. Reports of discolored or expired products have emerged, and allegations of a toxic work environment abound, with former employees describing a culture of fear and manipulation.
While Sunday Riley excels in delivering skincare that many find effective, the ongoing controversies surrounding fake reviews, misleading credentials, and workplace culture complicate the brand’s reputation. As consumers increasingly demand transparency and authenticity, questions remain: can one truly trust Sunday Riley, both as a brand and as a founder? The resolution of these issues will be critical in determining the brand’s future in an ever-evolving industry landscape.
41 Comments
A lot of people taking this one personally 😅 I try to leabe my personal opinions out of these videos and just share facts BUT Here’s what I have to say;
1) if a product works for your skin, keep using it. Not everyone cares about what goes on behind the scenes and for some, it’s a privilege to be able to be picky with your skincare
2) These videos, whilst hopefully informative (and factual) are made to entertain. Through my ‘When Beauty Turns Ugly’ etc series, I’ve found that you will be hard pressed to find a single brand that, in some way, hasn’t broken the law, isn’t ‘toxic’ to their workers in some way, or has some form of problematic past. It’s up to you as a consumer to choose what you deem as forgivable to you. No judgement here
Should have signed some NDAs 😂
Very well researched. Beautifully done.
Lamer is a fraude too really expensive pour quality
I am 50 and love the good genes lactic acid
17:41 the lack of a fine is insane, a fine of some percentage of their revenue for each year they were found to have written fake reviews was an absolute must.
Typical behavior.
But their A+ retinol really does a great job on my skin tho 😩 Only that one which I also think extremely overpriced
My skin is SO demanding & particular, sadly..I only seem to have decent to good success with higher end products..I have used Good Genes & the Luna oil & my skin LOVES them both, I have never found dupes for either, sadly I sacrificed my hair appointments & do it myself in order to be able to pay for those 2 products, but I have no plans on changing that..
Do one on MUSELY!!!!
23:04 "what the f*ck does that mean?!?!" 🤣
I was a sales manager for ulta back in 2023, and we had a corporate created event focusing on Sunday Riley products were we had to push their products and make a certain goal, however in preparation for the event myself and one other employee working the event attended a teams meeting with the brand, and we were told so much information not just about the formulation and what claims to tell customers, but I also remember distinctly a representative for the brand saying that Sunday started the brand after her daughter was struggling with her skin, so I really don’t know what the truth is at this point 🤷🏻♂😂
I have screamingly sensitive skin and rely on genuine reviews before I try anything. I wouldn’t touch that company’s products with a barge pole because of their deceit.
WOW! What an amazingly done deep-dive — and damn, does the rabbit hole go deep. I had no clue about any of this — it's insane.
Unrelated but 10/10 intro. Got straight to the point. Literally have yet to see another YouTuber do that
You are cruel.
Her vitamin C line has hurt my skin. And now I am afraid to wear any of SR products.
being a chemistry student, im sure other chem students would find it odd someone who studied chemistry call chemical "clean"
Hehe I have my undergrad in bio tech and biochemistry but there was no cosmetic formulation there… hehe and I am talking about mid 2000 when already human genome mapping was on the way. what BS!!!! Thanks for educating us…. I hate dishonest brands.
Is it just me or shouldn’t she face jail time for this?!?? This is literal fraud!!!
I love these videos! Juno is one of my favorite oils ever. I really like the UFO oil too
I first received some in either ipsy or birchbox. Didn't think much of it.
The Saturn mask is life changing. I would break out so bad from wearing masks during covid. 1 treatment would zap all my pimples in hours.
I also liked the clay based cleanser. Ceramic Slip?
Everything else sucked for me. Good Genes & the vitamin C stuff broke me out bad.
I've tried quite a few SR products and wasn't impressed with any of them.
Ugh…so any recommendations to replace Good Genes?
Can you do a video on fresh. Is it a good brand? also, youth to the people
Ironically, the UFO oil broke me out. Terribly. I normally don’t have acne or acne prone skin. But oh my gd you would think I had my face shoved in grease 24/7. Awful. Also smelled bizarre.
Whats messed up is i was in college when this happened i bought that green crap from Sunday riley because of the sephora reviews that were so good. It made my face so much worse but i continued to use it because it was so expensive
"Original sephora kid" is wild😂😂😂
She’s on QVC Selling her products every few months.
soooo shady…
This is so frustrating to find out about. I first tried her acne products when I was an 18 year old who was looking for anything to help fix my acne issues. I used my money from my first job, it was a lot for me at the time, but all the reviews were so glowing that I thought it had to be a miracle product. But I just remember the bad smell and greasy feel. Needless to say I never went back to the brand. But now I know 🙃
I was a sales manager for ulta back in 2023, and we had a corporate created event focusing on Sunday Riley products were we had to push their products and make a certain goal, however in preparation for the event myself and one other employee working the event attended a teams meeting with the brand, and we were told so much information not just about the formulation and what claims to tell customers, but I also remember distinctly a representative for the brand saying that Sunday started the brand after her daughter was struggling with her skin, so I really don’t know what the truth is at this point 🤷🏻♂️😂
Her company also lies about the product size meaning you think you are paying for a certain quantity but you actually get way less product as mentioned on the product itself.
It appears Sunday Riley is being WAY OVER charitable with the hopes that no one looks/investigates further. When someone say “look over here“, people tend not to look anywhere anywhere else🙄
I wonder how common fake reviews are in the industry, because I honestly always assumed that everyone is doing it (not saying that it's okay to do it obviously). I'm so used to seeing tons of positive reviews absolutely everywhere, that I no longer pay attention to them to be honest.
As for the glassdoor reviews, well I work in the different industry of course, but writing fake positive reviews about workplaces are so so so common, but it's usually super easy to tell if they are fake
So what. Her products are amazing & actually work.
I tried Sunday Riley when I first started to give my skincare regimen more thought. Not knowing much about skincare, I used the strategy of “what’s going viral and has a lot of reviews.” Needless to say I was not impressed, I personally didn’t see much change in my skin (for the better). As most know there are more effective products for half the price and larger product size. Most of the time simplicity really does work. Many products I use now are simple with a few ingredients, great pricing and they work! Only sad thing about skincare and hair care is one does need to shop around and try different things before they find what works for them.
I’m betting a lot of companies do this now. I see so many reviews that follow her outline for reviews all the time.
23:04 took me out LMFAO😂
I literally saw some of these fakes on Reddit telling people Sunday Riley UFO oil would get rid of their milia bumps!!! It felt fishy to me because they didn't respond to any questions with how long it took to resolve it. Also how would oil fix milia or keratin bumps?! I want to post this video under those comments now 😂
Looks like they have moved to Reddit to keep shamelessly review bombing themselves