The Painted by Esther & Patrick Ta Controversy Explained

The Girls Are Fighting… Let's get into it

If you’ve spent any time on beauty TikTok, chances are you’ve seen the drama between Painted by Esther, Patrick Ta, and Jackie Aina. I live for a little controversy, so let me give you the rundown.

Painted by Esther is a makeup artist who has been radicalizing and changing the beauty landscape especially for dark-skinned Black women for the past two to three years. She is specifically known for her bright coral and pink blushes on deep and dark-skinned women of color, building a highly recognizable aesthetic around the technique. This matters because in the beauty industry, especially for Black women, being first doesn’t always mean being remembered. Sometimes, it doesn’t even mean benefiting from your own innovation.

Recently, controversy erupted after Patrick Ta an Asian American CEO who owns his own beauty cosmetic company launched products marketed around "transitional blushes." The core of the issue is that he trademarked the term "transitional blushes." The problem with this legal move is that the term and the underlying concept were popularized by Esther, who has been teaching and championing this method for years.

Now, a major corporation has swooped in, put a legal lock on the language around the technique, and launched a product line essentially colonizing Esther's opportunity. And I am using that word entirely on purpose.

The conversation intensified after Esther shared that someone allegedly connected to Patrick Ta’s team attempted to book a session with her while requesting permission to record her techniques. Esther says she declined. Weeks later, viewers began comparing Patrick Ta’s tutorials and launches to elements uniquely associated with Esther’s methods.

This is not the first time Patrick Ta has faced these types of allegations. Let's rewind to 2024. A creator named Avonna Sunshine posted a viral video where she snapped her Patrick Ta products and threw them in the trash. (Real quick: watching her break those blushes stressed me out because, girl... 😩 $50 EACH?? Girl i would have tried to returned them)

She did this because she claims Patrick Ta's brand refused to pay her for her work and ignored her emails for a month. Patrick Ta subsequently posted a tearful apology basically blaming his finance team. BUUUUT around the same time Jools Lebron (Very Demure, Very Mindful) revealed that Patrik Ta’s team flew him to New York to promote a foundation launch and failed to pay him. Even though other creators on the trip were allegedly compensated. Essentially a pattern seems to be emerging.

Enter Jackie Aina

Jackie Aina is a pioneer beauty influencer who opened doors in the industry for Black women that were firmly closed before she arrived. She fought for inclusivity, demanded expansive shade ranges, and used her platform in ways that substantially shifted the beauty space. That legacy can never be taken away from her or minimized in any way.

However... out of all times to post a review of Patrick Ta's products… why now? Jackie for some reason decided to post a glowing review of his transitional blushes right in the middle of this drama and it rubbed about everyone the wrong way.

Recently, Jackie made a video about James Charles addressing a situation where he disrespected a flight attendant who lost her job. Jackie is usually very vocal about accountability in the beauty community. So why not come out to support Esther? This situation aligns perfectly with her core values: addressing how Black women are often overlooked and denied the recognition they deserve. Why doesn't she have that same energy for Patrick Ta?

This hypocrisy has reignited discussions within the beauty community regarding Jackie's previous controversies. Some critics claim that Jackie's support of other Black creators has never been unconditional, operating on the principle of who she perceives as a “threat” to her.

Allegedly there have been multiple situations over the years with Makeupshayla and one involving Juvia's Place (we'll get to them later) where Jackie seems to compartmentalize which Black Beauty influencers she chooses to support.

A Little Extra Messiness: Juvia's Place

Now, I'm pretty sure you're wondering how on earth Juvia's Place got dragged into this. Well, during this discussion of Patrick Ta, Juvia's Place was heavily promoted by consumers as the perfect alternative brand and even in Jackie’s comment section. While we could dive deep into Juvia's Place's own controversial past regarding anti-Black comments, let's stick to the beef between Jackie Aina and Juvia's Place.

Back in 2019, Juvia's Place a prominent Black-owned makeup brand was at the center of a massive controversy involving Jackie Aina, Jeffree Star, Alyssa Ashley, and the founder of Juvia's Place, Chichi Eburu.

The issue began around a Juvia's Place foundation launch. Jeffree Star reviewed the foundation, praised it heavily, and gave it a raving review. The video received tens of millions of views and completely blew up. Juvia's Place publicly reposted it and thanked him, which is when the online backlash exploded.

To my knowledge, this wasn't a paid PR campaign; Jeffree bought the products at Ulta of his own free will. The issue was that Juvia's Place publicly celebrated validation from a creator with a well-documented history of racist comments and public feuds with Black women including a personal attack on Jackie Aina, where he allegedly used severe racial slurs against her.

Jackie rightfully questioned How can a Black-owned brand built heavily on African-inspired branding and Black consumer support eagerly seek validation from someone with Jeffree's history? Meanwhile, several Black creators felt ignored, noting they wanted to work with Juvia's Place but were being passed over.

This is where Alyssa Ashley also stepped in. She spoke out, claiming that Juvia's Place used Black creators when convenient but failed to build genuine relationships with them, only reaching out to darker-skinned creators when they needed them for a complex complexion launch.

Jackie’s stance was clear: you cannot build an empire off Black culture, African imagery, and the unwavering support of Black women, only to ignore Black creators and dismiss their concerns once the brand achieves mainstream success. Instead of handling this professionally, Chichi, the founder of Juvia's Place, made it deeply personal.

As you can see from the tweets, Chichi went on a massive rant, claiming Jackie was not genuinely pro-Black. She brought up an alleged relationship with a married man, a past GoFundMe controversy, and highlighted the "Rich Lives Matter" scenario.

For context, around 2016–2017, the co-founder of Too Faced, Jerrod Blandino, posted a cake to his Instagram story with the caption "Rich Lives Matter"—a tone-deaf mockery of the Black Lives Matter movement. Despite this, Jackie proceeded to work with Too Faced on a major shade expansion launch in 2017–2018 and never publicly addressed the incident.

This was Chichi's way of trying to expose Jackie as a hypocrite. Which in my opinion never addressed the issue directly. While many creators who had issues with Juvia's Place have since reconciled, this is a feud Jackie will likely never let go and rightfully so, considering how deeply personal the attacks became.

So, when Jackie recently posted saying, "Y'all must not remember the nasty things that were said about me," this is exactly what she is referring to.

The Bottom Line

Maybe this entire conversation has become too messy. Maybe the beauty community has become far too parasocial, and audiences are projecting malicious motives onto these creators (Regarding Jackie Aina).

But one thing is certain: Black women are utterly and rightfully exhausted from watching innovation leave our hands the exact moment it becomes profitable. That exhaustion shows up everywhere in beauty, music, language, fashion, and culture as a whole.

To be completely honest, I believe Patrick Ta is dead wrong. He needs to be called out by fellow beauty creators for his constant pattern of lifting other people’s work. The beauty community is supposed to be a safe space for creativity and artistry, and his repeated behavior makes him a problem in this industry.

​As for Jackie Aina, she unnecessarily inserted herself into this situation and is now trying to masked her terrible timing video with the whole beef with Juvia's Place insertion. I understand she may have not liked the fact that the brand was getting clout from the situation but Patrick Ta was wrong and her video but her now at the center of the drama. I don't agree with all the targeted attacks going on against just Jackie. The focus of the internet has clearly shifted away from Patrick Ta and onto her, which isn't right. But at the same time, girl…. You had to have known better. Maybe a part of her wanted that shift in attention from Juvia's Place and it backfired.

​Regardless, the internet shouldn't lose sight of the real issue here. I support and stand by Painted by Esther 100%.

I would love to hear your perspectives. What are your observations this situation?