The Scammy Side of Gaming's Beauty Collabs
Or: Snake oil, re-skinned for gamers.
“A $10,000 limited edition, Gucci branded, gaming console.”
“It’s the first time Fortnite has ever done make up.”
“…now I'm going to be honest, I've never played on Fortnite, know nothing about it, but I thought this collection was pretty cute.”
“I am here with bad ass female gamers helping them with their game face.”
“….oh this (Xbox console) looks like a creamsicle.”
The Invasion
Gaming used to be a safe space. Crack open a bag of Doritos, sip some Mountain Dew, and forget the real world for a while.
But that world is under attack.
From Halo nail polish to Final Fantasy in Prada to Fortnite in haute couture—what started as a joke has become a business model à la carte: snake oil, re-skinned for gamers.
And the worst part? Most of us didn’t even notice.
Just ask Valkyrae—the world’s biggest gamer girl.
“Meet RFLCT—it’s the skincare collection that’s for everyone who uses a screen.”
She thought it was the perfect deal. Instead, it was a deal with the devil.
“I've had some terrible thoughts, like actually, like really terrible thoughts…”
The F*cking Soap
Valkyrae was the gamer girl. Streamer of the Year. Co-owner of 100 Thieves. Featured in Forbes. So when she launched a skincare line “for gamers,” people paid attention.
“I'm a full-time content creator. My career depends on being glued to a screen, but all that screen time started to take a toll on my body and my skin, so I did something about it.”
Yes, she did something about it. But the way she did it made her fans wonder if she’d been playing them all along.
“I don’t believe that the fucking blue light is destroying your skin in the way that the RFLCT product presents itself. It’s just f*cking soap.”
But before we get to the f*cking soap, you need to see how deep this rabbit hole goes. Because Valkyrae wasn’t the first to get fooled.
High Fashion, Low Trust
In 2012, Prada gave Final Fantasy a fashion makeover.
Noel in a knit sweater. Hope in a cream shirt. Lightning in a tailored blouse. Square Enix called it “a very exciting opportunity.”
That was just the warm-up. Louis Vuitton went all in. They didn’t just put Lightning in a photoshoot—they gave her an interview.
“I’m proud to be chosen. Perhaps I’m finally learning who I truly am.”
A fake person, with a fake answer. But to Louis Vuitton, it was a “new era of expression.”
And if you thought that was strange, just look at Riot Games.
They partnered with Louis Vuitton for a League of Legends collection: a $2,000 jacket, $1,000 shorts, and platform shoes that cost more than most gaming PCs. But to Riot, it was about “breaking stereotypes of what a gamer is.”
Yeeeeaaah, no.
The only thing that broke was gamers’ trust—sold off to the highest bidder.
The Blue Light Lie
It sounds like a joke—but these weren’t random collabs. They were marketing experiments to see how far brands could go before anyone noticed. And most of us didn’t. Until Valkyrae.
So what exactly was she selling? Right. A solution to a problem nobody knew they had: A cream that protects gamers… from the blue light of their screens.
“So I did something about it. Because we all know screens aren't going anywhere. Meet RFLCT—it's the skincare collection that's for everyone who uses a screen.”
On paper, it made sense. Two years of work. Meetings with chemists. Picking colors. The site described it as “like SPF, but for screens,” and claimed it was based on “groundbreaking research.” Valkyrae said she saw the research with her “own eyeballs.”
But the problem?
Nobody else could. No studies. No citations. No links.
Just… trust.
And that missing research? It wasn’t an oversight. It was almost like someone knew no one would ask. Because when gamers want something, they don’t scroll through academic PDFs—they buy. Fast. And beauty giants already knew that… over in China.
Lessons from the East
Meet Honor of Kings—the world’s biggest mobile game. Millions of fans. Billions in revenue. Stadiums packed with screaming crowds. And the kicker? More than half the players are women.
And beauty brands took notes. MAC Cosmetics released a limited-edition makeup line inspired by in-game characters—endorsed by celebrities, plastered on billboards, hyped on reality TV. It sold out in 24 hours. That wasn’t luck. Over half of esports fans say ads work on them. So it’s no wonder beauty giants are crawling all over gaming.
The message was clear: Gamers buy. And they buy fast.
So to Valkyrae, a skincare line for gamers didn’t sound so crazy. The market had already spoken…
The Backlash
But what works in China doesn’t always fly in the West. Especially when you’re selling to gamers. Hours after launch, RFLCT wasn’t trending the way Valkyrae hoped. Doctors called the science nonsense.
“I really like Rae. I think it's great to see women of color in business. But you don't need to protect your skin against blue light from screens. Even with a big-ass monitor, you’d need days or months to equal 15 minutes of sunlight.”
Gamers didn’t hold back either, laughing at the idea of gamer skincare and calling it a “Scam.” “Cash grab.” “A solution to a problem that doesn’t exist."
Some of her streamer friends defended her:
“People aren't actually mad about the pseudoscience of blue lights—gamers are just mad about hygiene. Typical gamers. I’ve seen it in the Smash scene for years.”
Others didn’t bother holding back:
“It’s soap. What do you want me to say? Is it edible? It’s just moisturizer and soap.”
While many joined the dogpile, Asmongold wasn’t so sure:
“The RFLCT thing was dumb. But she obviously got played.”
But played by who? Her business partners stayed silent. The only official statement?
“If a male gamer had come up with RFLCT, he’d have been applauded.”
Right. More like deflection than accountability. Almost like someone had done this before.
Same Game, New Target
In fact, selling snake oil to gamers has been done before. Our beloved MAC Cosmetics once tried to sell The Sims-inspired make up. Fans expected fun, neon shades to match the game. Instead, they got an old neutral pallette in new packaging - recycled from years ago. Of course, Simmers weren’t beating around the bush:
“…the MAC collab with the Sims 4 is a hot flaming pile of trash.”
Anyways, while all this RFLCT mess was going on, Valkyrae could only sit and watch. She wasn’t allowed to speak. Instead she was “told to wait until tomorrow…”
The Fallout
And then… tomorrow came.
“I just wanted to talk about everything.”
No script. No managers. Just Valkyrae—live. But the more she spoke, the worse it got.
“I'm not... it's not... this is not what I expected. This is not what I signed up for. I don't want to have to convince people. Like, ‘Oh just trust me.’ I understand entirely the position I put myself in.”
Did she really? She said she saw the research. But there was none. She said it wasn’t about money. But it didn’t matter. The stream fell apart.
“I’ve always tried to be a good person… but what happened was such a f----- up thing, and I was part of it.”
And here’s the part no one warned her about: Valkyrae didn’t come up with the idea.
She was approached.
“I got so lucky because I was approached by Claudia, who is the CEO of Ideavation. She was like, ‘Do you want to create some kind of product—hair, makeup...’”
Meet Claudia Poccia—former president of Avon.
Yes, that Avon. The pyramid-scheme beauty empire. Door-to-door beauty sales since 1886. A company built on selling solutions to problems you didn’t know you had. From Avon to Estée Lauder to you name it—Claudia was a master at turning snake oil into money. She didn’t need Valkyrae to understand the science. She just needed her audience to trust it. And legally, she was covered.
“RFLCT did not commission the studies and does not endorse the conclusions reached by the third parties.”
The fine print got worse:
“We do not guarantee that all information provided on the site is accurate.”
“We do not guarantee the quality of any products will meet your expectations.”
Valkyrae thought she was building something revolutionary. She was just fronting for a beauty executive with a playbook older than she was. And Rae wasn’t the only one. She was just the most visible victim of a much bigger game.
The Real Game
Here’s the truth: The beauty industry is in panic mode. The four biggest beauty conglomerates just reported disappointing sales. Consumers are burnt out. Tired. Over it. So now, they’re coming for us—the only industry left with obsessive loyalty and endless screen time. From Dior in Gran Turismo, to Prada Candy Crush minigames, to Halo-inspired nail polish, to Fortnite skins that cost more than rent…
The invasion has only begun.
Games are becoming beauty showrooms. Fashion weeks are becoming Diablo-inspired and Blizzard-sponsored.
But here’s the thing: beauty brands aren’t chasing sales anymore. They’re chasing relevance. They’re fighting for attention in a world where TikTok trends die before the next product even ships.
And gaming?
Gaming is their last big stage. The only place left where people still care. So what does that mean for us? It means the worlds we built are being sold back to us. Our trust? A product on the shelf. Our avatars? Walking billboards. Our favorite creators? Just another chess piece. If only Valkyrae had known the one rule of marketing:
Trust built in one world can’t be cashed out in another. You can’t drag your audience into a world you don’t belong in. So next time you see a creator pushing a $400 Fortnite hoodie or nail polish titled You Had Me at Halo…
Ask yourself: Is this still about gaming? Or are we just NPCs in someone else’s store?
RFLCT spent two years on "groundbreaking research”…
Here’s what that research actually said:
Results: Blue light can be both harmful and beneficial to the skin, depending on intensity and wavelength. Short-term safety information is more readily available from clinical studies; however, the biological effects of repeated and/or longer-term exposure are not fully understood yet.