Tati Westbrook has officially retired her namesake cosmetics brand, Tati Beauty.
The YouTube creator opened up to fans in a new video, saying the brand has closed its doors partly because of the pandemic, and partly because of litigation she’s been involved with over the past year.
“COVID hit, and that slowed things down [for Tati Beauty], it slowed the whole world down,” she explains. “And then of course, you guys are aware of the outside litigation that really impacted my life, in full.”
Following Tati’s bombshell ‘BYE SISTER’ scandal, the beauty guru was “blindsided” with a lawsuit from her Halo Beauty business partner, Clark Swanson, suing her for $30 million. In a June 2021 video, Tati claimed Swanson had been feeding “disparaging” information about Tati, her husband, and her family to drama channels.
ICYMI, Swanson was allegedly suing Tati and her husband James Westbrook for launching Tati Beauty— Tati’s makeup brand which launched in late 2019 with her Textured Neutrals Vol 1 palette followed by the controversial Blendiful sponge.
Swanson, who is apparently James Westbrook’s longtime colleague and friend, claimed that he and the Westbrooks initially had a 50/50 split of Halo Beauty. However, they eventually approached him with a deal for two-thirds of the business and in exchange, Tati would commit to launching her cosmetics line under the Halo Beauty umbrella. This agreement was allegedly drawn up in their contract.
When Halo Beauty was preparing to launch, Swanson claimed that Tati sat down with YouTube’s biggest gurus— Jeffree Star, Manny MUA, Laura Lee, and James Charles— and asked them not to promote SugarBearHair. Swanson alleges Tati “touted her clique” as sources of promotion for Halo Beauty and used this influence to convince Swanson to give up equity in the business.
Fast forward a year, and Swanson alleged that the Westbrooks cut a separate deal with a cosmetics manufacturer and launched Tati Beauty without him.
Tati’s Textured Neutrals Vol 1 palette is estimated to have made $16 million USD.
The lawsuit also claimed James Westbrook liquidated “hundreds of thousands of dollars” of Halo Beauty assets on October 10th, 2020 when the Westbrooks learned of the lawsuit to decrease the company’s value.
Tati has spoken openly about how the legal battle has impacted her life— forcing her to downsize by selling her LA home and relocate back to Seattle. She also claims it caused a major strain on her marriage.
While Tati did not go into detail on the outcome of the “outside litigation” that impacted Tati Beauty, fans assume the brand closure indicates the Westbrooks might have lost the case.