Julep did a blog post on December 9th called "French Tip with a Chic and Modern Twist".
Now, just in case this blog post "disappears" overnight, here's a screen shot of what we all saw...
http://i40.tinypic.com/15mln2p.jpg - top half of the page
http://i39.tinypic.com/25a27uq.jpg - bottom half of the page
And here's the actual blog address which *should* go directly to the post. If it doesn't, the post has been removed:
http://blog.julep.com/french-tip-with-a-chic-and-modern-twist
***UPDATE***: When you click on Julep's link above, the post is back (it was removed right after I wrote this post), with photos that HAVE watermarks. In case you missed it on Julep's FB page on Monday evening, Julep's CEO and Founder, Jane Park, admitted to cropping the photos and using them without permission. THEN, she re-posts the article with NEW, watermarked photos. Listen Janey, I appreciate the apology, but you screwed up. Big time. I promise to NEVER purchase a Julep product again.
And for anyone interested, THIS is how Miss Jane decided to address her FB followers last night. As you can see, it goes from,
"Hey guys - we have not
and would NEVER deliberately crop out watermarks or do anything else that
would be so dishonest." to "I'm really sorry we goofed. You guys are right - we
fixed it as quickly as humanly possible to the way it should have been in the
first place. Thanks for pointing out this error. We really and truly meant no
harm and this will never happen again."
If you're interested, here's a direct link to the FB post from Monday evening.
Those of us who are polish-aholics and especially those of us who blog about nail polish or have blogged in the past are familiar with Chloe's Nails. Erika, the creator and author of Chloe's Nails, is one of the most talented bloggers I've ever come across. There are a few bloggers that really inspired me to become a blogger - Erika is one of those people. Her pictures are impeccable. They are always perfectly crisp and clean and I can never find anything wrong with them. Even when I don't like the polish colors/combinations she uses, I still appreciate each and every manicure she does. She always makes it look so easy!
Check out this really neat post Erika did back in February!
Look familiar?
What's really sad, is Julep took the time to REMOVE Erika's watermark that she took time to add to her photo. She added the watermark so that people wouldn't STEAL her photos and not give her credit for them!
I can't take credit for finding this post, but here is another blogger-victim whose pictures appear to be cropped and re-posted on Juleps blog:
http://lyndarthemerciless.blogspot.com/2011/03/talon-tastic-thursday-sophisticated.html
I haven't been able to make a connection with the 3rd picture used. If this looks familiar, please feel free to post your comments below.
To those of you who have followed Paws to Polish for a while, you know that all of my other posts have stuck to reviews and swatches. I've never used my blog as an outlet for my feelings. But I felt that it was important to get this information out to all of you, so that you can see what a dishonest company Julep is. Julep now has the opportunity to make things right by giving credit to these bloggers by simply including their blog address. Let's see how they choose to handle the situation. Talk about a PR nightmare!
Oh, and a little word of friendly advice to my polish and blogging friends: Please take the time to watermark your photos. I know it's a pain and it's a step that we all want to skip, but it's worth it. Even though Julep used these photos without permission, they were watermarked originally, which proved who they really belonged to. And I promise, if I see that one of your photos is being used without your watermark and/or permission, I will stand up for you and your work, and I would hope that you would do the same. We polish-aholics stick together!
Full agreement here.
ReplyDeleteAnd well said Katie.
Julep kinda sucks
ReplyDeleteWow that's awful. I've heard other sketchy things about Julep in the past so this just confirms how glad I am that I've never bought from them.
ReplyDeleteJust wrote them an email, now I feel better haha.
ReplyDeleteThis whole debacle has made it really easy for me to decide not to sign up for their maven program - something I've been considering for the last few weeks. I'm glad I saved my money.
ReplyDeleteIt looks like since the screen shots you took they've added/put up watermarks on the photos.
ReplyDeleteI've heard nothing but bad things about Julep since the beginning, so sketchy!
It is sad when people steal pictures. It is hard to imagine a company doing it. Dumb!
ReplyDeleteIt's sad but it happens. What I cannot understand is why can't they just ask for the owners permission. In Julep's case, this is the first time I have heard anything bad being said about them.
ReplyDeleteBtw, they just added the sources and replaced the pictures with watermark
You can now drag the picture over a google search bar and it will search the web for copies of a pic!
ReplyDeleteI have recently moved my watermark from being right over the center of the image, to the corner. Perhaps I should move it back
ReplyDeleteI cannot believe that a company would do that and remove the watermark and act like it is their work. This is outrageous and uncalled for. Of course I LOVE Chloe's Nails-she is so good-this is not the first time I have seen her stuff used without the watermark. Julep should never have done this. All I see is the pictures now with the watermark and the last picture not there. Shame on them. If I figure out how to write them I will. THank you for pointing this out. I do use watermarks and its scary that people can still remove them and use your work.
ReplyDeleteReally? Attempting this with such a well-known blogger's photos was a big mistake. I'm glad the nail blogging community is showing their support for Erika and anger towards Julep.
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing as well. I've posted a similar post on my own blog, and linked back to this post with all the information. I'm happy to give you the link if you'd like.
Julep sucks... They have put the watermarks back. What were they thinking???
ReplyDeleteNo business for Julep from me !!And on the pic.....that was not Julep's nail polish...thats OPI's!!!OMG................-0-""What were Julep's ppl thinking...!?
ReplyDeleteUGH. Ughughugh. Seriously gross. Besides, there was some shady stuff going on there in the beginning with the Maven credits and their customer service being pretty much sucky. I will never use a Julep product because of this. Plus they're so freaking expensive!! More expensive than Chanel! gahhhhhhh drives me insane.
ReplyDeleteThanks for posting about this. I can't believe they used her photos AND removed her watermark without permission. I feel anyone who is into nail polish knows her blog. You said it 100% correct -- shame on you Julep!
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comments! I'll be sure to update this post if I see or hear of any updates on the issue. But regardless of what happens, Julep has lost at least one good customer here.
ReplyDelete