Why are Glossier fans also their biggest haters?

Their Subreddit is a hive of passionate negativity

There are very few brands, maybe even only one, that excite me enough to drag myself into London for an event at 3pm on a Friday.

Glossier is that exception and it was their You pop up on Regent’s Street that got me back on those green and blue striped train seats.

We’re in a time when I genuinely wouldn’t be surprised if an email popped up in my inbox inviting me to a Ginster’s Steak Slice pop up, but somehow, once again, Glossier has managed to reinvent the wheel.

Rather than a shopping event, Realms of You is more of a short theatrical experience, which truly feels original… until it is copied and watered down by every other beauty brand in the coming year, of course.

But, when I posted my video of the pop up, I noticed the comments on TikTok were originally just negative.

“Glossier is lost”. “Have they changed the formula so that it lasts longer than an hour?”

I don’t know why I was surprised really. I’m an avid reader of the Glossier Subreddit and if you thought the TrendMood comment section was bad, wait until you go over there.

If, like me, you find yourself on the Glossier Reddit forum, you’re clearly a mega fan, but you’d be forgiven for thinking otherwise the more you read.

Complaints about formula changes, especially when it comes to Balm Dot Com. Complaints about pricing. Complaints about the You pop up. Complaints about sold out merch.

Thankfully, they’ve been drowned out slightly by people sharing their Black Friday hauls, but generally, it’s a pretty negative place to be.

So, why have Glossier’s biggest fans turned on them?

Well, I have a couple of theories.

The first being that Glossier was a brand founded on community. Emily Weiss started her golden baby by asking her Into The Gloss readership what products they wanted. They were involved every step of the way. Somewhere along the line, that relationship has become long distant.

Reformulations happen for all manner of reasons. In the case of Balm Dot Com, I read that beeswax was swapped for a synthetic version, lanolin removed and petroleum replaced with castor oil for environmental reasons and to make the formula vegan.

As a boundary breaking brand, would it have been that unimaginable for Glossier to take their community through the reformulation process? Explaining their reasons for why and creating a group of testers to give feedback as they tweaked percentages?

Including your aggressively loyal audience would be a way of managing expectations at the same time as ensuring they feel included in what happens to their favourite products.

But, as well as including them, Glossier do need to listen to them. The complaints about the solid You perfume formula not smelling of anything, are entirely justified.

You is my all-time favourite perfume, I would never be without it, but the solid version isn’t good. It doesn’t smell and if you’re consistently getting this feedback, it should be acted on.

Just sometimes - and I’m speaking as a Glossier fan here - it can feel like despite you being the one that loves and supports the brand, Glossier would rather court the attention of the ‘it crowd’. Like a partner who refuses to introduce you to his friends and family due to your extensive Funko Pop collection.

However, our complaints should also be seen as compliments. So many brands wished people cared about their new launches enough to leave a comment on social media. Glossier fans have entire forums, group chats, and trading groups.

This dissatisfaction is a by-product of creating a community that is so passionate about your brand. It’s the kind of investment other brands simply can’t buy, even if they can buy their followers.

Ultimately Glossier reminds me of my favourite podcast: H3. Like Glossier, their subreddit is also pretty critical, but it’s because this show has become such a huge part of people’s lives.

A cancelled episode has the power to ruin someone’s evening and bad takes are called out due to the high expectations in the parasocial relationship.

Truthfully, I think Glossier should take the criticism as a compliment, but they should also listen to it.