Slippery situation: Why Fenty Beauty, Glow Recipe, Huda Beauty and Wonder Bath have similar eye patches

There is a viral clip from an episode of The Kardashians doing the rounds on TikTok, in which Kim Kardashian delivers an impassioned defence that goes: “I got married in Italy. Am I saying you copied me by getting married in Italy? Who performed at my wedding? Andrea Bocelli. Who performed at Kourtney’s wedding? Andrea Bocelli. You stole my f—ing wedding country and my wedding performer.”

That same energy could be felt across the beauty industry this past week, as Fenty Beauty, Glow Recipe, Huda Beauty and Korean beauty brand Wonder Bath found themselves in an unexpectedly similar situation.

It started with a very familiar-looking eye patch

It all started on September 17, when Fenty Beauty teased its Dew N Plump Fresh Sliced Hydrogel Eye Patches, a jelly-textured hydrogel serum housed in a container that dispenses a single “fresh eye patch” with every twist of the cap.

Things soon got a little messy, and slippery, when Glow Recipe shared its own take on the format. Its Exopeptide Caffeine Brighten & Depuff Fresh Slices Eye Mask also comes in a similar twist-up canister designed to dispense individual eye patches.

Shortly after, influencers began posting about Huda Beauty’s Undereye Jelly Patches, which similarly come in a canister with a comparable dispensing mechanism.

But there was more. Eagle-eyed netizens soon pointed out that Korean beauty brand Wonder Bath had already debuted its own slice serum eye patches in July, available in three variants targeting pore tightening, volume lifting and dark-spot evening.

Suddenly, the beauty internet had a very specific question: why do all these eye patches look so familiar?

Instead of drama, the brands chose comedy

Rather than getting caught up in the copycat conversation, however, the brands appeared to find the perfect PR response: laugh about it together.

Fenty Skin kicked things off with a tongue-in-cheek Spider-Man meme featuring four different canisters from the brands pointing at one another. The caption read: “pulling up to the function with your hgs in the same fit like.”

The other brands were quick to join in. Huda Beauty commented, “Great minds think alike,” while Glow Recipe responded with a simple, sassy “Touché 😘💖”.

Wonder Bath chimed in with: “HAHAHAH! There is room for everyone in the market❤️ We love you @fentyskin.”

Lifestyle influencer Desi Perkins also shared her approval, commenting: “I’m glad we can all laugh about this 😂👏 great marketing,” while Sephora Canada added: “You know what, the more the merrier 😆.”

Glow Recipe takes a trip down hydrogel memory lane

Glow Recipe then offered its own take on the drama with a humorous comic showing its Exopeptide Caffeine Brighten & Depuff Fresh Slices Eye Mask sitting in a house on fire, accompanied by the now-iconic “This is fine” meme.

The caption read: “Glow HQ right now… Just kidding, we actually love being in good company, especially alongside brands helmed by incredible female founders we love and admire 🤝 More details to come… 👀”

The brand has since followed up with a little hydrogel history lesson, writing: “Hydrogel is having a moment 👀 So we thought… let’s talk about it.”

Glow Recipe pointed out that its relationship with hydrogel dates back to 2018, when it launched its Watermelon Jelly Sheet Mask.

While the brand says it loves a good bouncy, jelly texture, it also highlighted what makes hydrogel distinctive: its gel structure can help hold ingredients within the material while closely hugging the skin, helping to minimise water loss and support ingredient delivery.

The brand then invited followers to “take a little trip back” to see how it has been making its hydrogel products since day one, adding another playful chapter to the unfolding eye patch saga.

Huda Beauty gets in on the joke too

And Huda Beauty wasn’t done either.

The brand later jumped on the “when I get called to do a documentary” trend, posting a video featuring the text: “me and the girls getting called in for a documentary about a certain manufacturer”, alongside the caption, “tap tap is this thing on 🎤”.

The punchline? The “girls” in question were none other than Wonder Bath, Glow Recipe and Fenty Skin, who all appeared as collaborators in the video.

At the time of writing, the post has amassed more than 208,000 likes, with fellow beauty brands joining the comments to applaud the brands for turning an awkward situation into a collective marketing moment.

Sol de Janeiro summed it up with: “Yeahhhhh take your trophy 🏆🙂‍↕️👏.”

With new beauty products hitting the market almost every day, a little déjà vu is inevitable. For consumers, there’s no shortage of choice. At the end of the day, it’s simply about finding the product that works for your routine.