The “number one” beauty influencer on Douyin (Chinese version of TikTok) with nearly 20 million followers has once again “fallen into a trap.”
Recently, a Douyin product reviewer with 570,000 followers, known as @DaHuKeDaiBiao (@大虎课代表), released a series of videos titled “A Long-Planned ‘Olive Oil’ Scam, Deceiving Consumers!” In these videos, he directly targeted certain brands’ olive oil essence products, claiming that they contained less hydroxytyrosol and oleuropein and even accused a particular brand of not adding these ingredients at all. He raised four major questions to the relevant brands and top influencers.
After the video was released, a top beauty influencer on Douyin, Luo Wangyu, publicly responded to the reviewer’s doubts through a live broadcast. The brand in question, Brand C, also provided an “explanation” in a product demonstration video on their official flagship store. However, @DaHuKeDaiBiao continued to release videos today (February 26) responding to Luo Wangyu and the brand’s statements. As of the time of writing, Brand C’s products cannot be found in Luo Wangyu’s official Douyin account showcase.
So, behind this intense “confrontation,” who is right and who is wrong?
Luo Wangyu’s Response: Does Olive Oil Essence Not Contain Oleuropein?
Let’s review the sequence of events.
On February 24th, product reviewer @DaHuKeDaiBiao posted a video on Douyin titled “A Long-Planned ‘Olive Oil’ Scam, Deceiving Consumers!” In the video, he claimed that he had sent seven popular olive oil products to a third-party laboratory for testing. Among these products, four had low levels of hydroxytyrosol and oleuropein, and one specific product named Brand C’s olive oil essence did not contain any hydroxytyrosol or oleuropein. From @DaHuKeDaiBiao’s subsequent response video, it appears that this Brand C’s olive oil essence might refer to Cosmetics Skin Solutions (CSS), a skincare brand.
In the video, @DaHuKeDaiBiao stated that to ensure accurate results, he had sent all the mentioned products to China Inspection and Quarantine Science Research Institute’s laboratory, specifically the Cosmetics Technology Co., Ltd., for retesting. The results also showed that Brand C’s olive oil essence did not contain hydroxytyrosol or oleuropein. Based on these results, @DaHuKeDaiBiao raised four questions:
- Does the brand acknowledge that there are issues with their product?
- How will the brand handle the products already sold?
- For products that are still being sold, will the brand continue to sell them without responding or take them off the market for improvement?
- What are the selection criteria for top influencers who promote this product? Do they need to provide an explanation to their followers?
Subsequently, Luo Wangyu responded to @DaHuKeDaiBiao’s doubts in his live broadcast and stated that he would provide more relevant evidence in the future.
Firstly, Luo Wangyu mentioned that oleuropein and hydroxytyrosol are just two of the many active ingredients found in olive leaf extracts. Even if CSS products do not contain oleuropein and hydroxytyrosol, claiming to have added olive leaf extracts is still valid. The criteria for determining whether it can be called olive leaf extract and judging the quality of a product based on the concentration of oleuropein and hydroxytyrosol are personal standards.
Secondly, the supplier of olive leaf extracts used in CSS products is Essential, and the raw materials come from the raw material supplier Lipotec. If there are issues with the product ingredients, it should be addressed with the raw material supplier, and further investigation is needed to determine if it is a raw material problem.
Thirdly, @DaHuKeDaiBiao’s method of testing concentration is individualized, but some brands may adjust the molecular formula of the raw materials, and after the molecular formula changes, it may be challenging to measure the actual amount of certain ingredients.
CHAILEEDO noticed that in the product demonstration video for “CSS Olive Oil Snow Grass Essence” on CSS’s official Douyin flagship store, they also responded to the incident. The video advises consumers to view the event rationally and states that since the brand has purchased olive leaf extracts as raw materials, they must have been used in the products. As for the lack of certain ingredients in the test results, it involves a lot of professional knowledge, including product development, testing techniques, and sample testing, and the subsequent chain of evidence will take some time.
Does Olive Leaf Extract Need to Contain Oleuropein?
Regarding this incident, the controversy revolves around whether the olive oil essence of Brand C mentioned by the influencer truly has the issues raised. Secondly, it questions whether @DaHuKeDaiBiao’s testing method and samples can accurately reflect the true situation of the products in question.
Regarding @DaHuKeDaiBiao’s testing method, industry experts have told CHAILEEDO, “Since other tested products can detect components like oleuropein, it indicates that the testing method used in the video can indeed detect oleuropein and other components. This indirectly proves that the influencer’s testing method is valid.”
So, is the testing target used by @DaHuKeDaiBiao reasonable? Does the absence of oleuropein and hydroxytyrosol imply issues with the products in question?
An employee from a raw material company told CHAILEEDO, “This testing standard is actually an industry convention, which assumes that the mentioned components are the main active ingredients of olive leaf extract.”
Another experienced researcher, who preferred to remain anonymous, expressed the same opinion to CHAILEEDO. “Oleuropein is indeed an important target product of olive leaf extract.” He believed that if it cannot be detected but the raw material still possesses the corresponding efficacy, the raw material company should provide relevant testing evidence to prove that olive leaf extract can still have the intended effect without oleuropein and other components. “Since the selected raw material is olive leaf extract and it contains specific active components, under normal circumstances, these effective components would not be deliberately omitted.”
It is worth mentioning that in @DaHuKeDaiBiao’s latest response video, he also stated that oleuropein can be used as a testing target since it is a specific component that can be confirmed in olive extract. Furthermore, he believes that “there are already many documents and official files that explicitly state that the various benefits of olives come from phenolic compounds, especially oleuropein and hydroxytyrosol.”
However, the aforementioned experienced researcher also told CHAILEEDO, “For raw materials like olive leaf extract, there is currently no definitive standardized document to determine the indicator substances. It is not possible to have clear indicator substances for testing, similar to ingredients like glycyrrhizic acid in licorice extract. It can be considered a gray area.”
Therefore, it is evident that oleuropein and hydroxytyrosol are indeed important active ingredients of olive leaf extract, and the testing standard used by the influencer aligns with the industry’s default standards. If a company acknowledges the absence of oleuropein and hydroxytyrosol in the raw material, they would need to provide further data and information to verify the efficacy of the raw material.
Multiple cases: Can We Trust Influential Beauty Bloggers?
Lastly, let’s return to the other focal point of this controversy, which is about the influential beauty blogger Luo Wangyu on Douyin.
As early as 2021, Luo Wangyu gained popularity on Douyin with labels like “Professionals of Chemical Peeling” and “Amazing Promoter.” Before becoming a beauty influencer, Luo Wangyu had years of professional experience as a beauty consultant. After accumulating knowledge through years of product reviews and recommendations, Luo Wangyu’s expertise was recognized by consumers.
However, in recent years, Luo Wangyu has been involved in several incidents where her professionalism was questioned by other beauty bloggers. For example, in June of last year, Professor Mao Yueping, the Deputy Chief Physician of the Dermatology Department at Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hospital of Zhongshan University and a beauty influencer with over 300,000 followers on Douyin, publicly refuted Luo Wangyu’s comments on the “Touch Powder” product, stating that the product was nothing more than a tax on one’s intelligence.
This incident sparked a heated industry debate on whether the “Goodnight Powder” was truly effective for skincare. At that time, industry insiders told CHAILEEDO that the skincare effects of the “Touch Powder” were almost negligible, and whether it would clog pores depended on individual circumstances.
Furthermore, last year Luo Wangyu released a video advising her followers not to purchase domestically produced sunscreens, positioning herself against such products. This triggered a debate on whether domestically produced sunscreens were genuinely effective. In the midst of intense discussions, Luo Wangyu faced criticism from some brands and consumers.
In fact, from Luo Wangyu’s history, it can be seen that most of the points questioned in these incidents revolve around whether her professional opinions truly align with current scientific facts. Once a significant discrepancy arises, her expertise and authority are heavily challenged, as is the case in this incident. If Luo Wangyu wants to restore her reputation, she can only present more scientific theories and evidence to vindicate herself.
As of now, neither Luo Wangyu, the brands mentioned by @DaHuKeDaiBiao, nor the suppliers involved have provided substantial evidence to prove the efficacy of the products or ingredients in question. The future development of this incident will require some time to unfold.
Overall, it is indeed necessary to have different perspectives, discussions, and doubts to better identify and solve problems. As for consumers, the credibility of beauty bloggers depends on whether they can provide truly professional advice to their followers. At the same time, beauty bloggers themselves need to constantly examine their viewpoints and behavior, taking a more scientific and neutral stance to provide support and opinions for consumers.
