EOS, short for "evolution of smooth," has been slapped with a class-action lawsuit that claims its lip balm, which is advertised by celebrities like Kim Kardashian and Britney Spears, causes its users' skin to crack, blister and even bleed - the opposite of what the product, and lip balms in general, are supposed to do.
Several users of EOS' spherical lip balms have experienced "devastating adverse reactions to the product," which include mild to severe rashes, dryness, bleeding, blistering, cracking and temporary loss of pigmentation, according to the lawsuit.
The plaintiff in the suit, Rachael Cronin, says she found her lips felt like "sandpaper" hours after using the "Summer Fruit" flavor last month. The feeling prompted her to reapply more of the balm on her lip to achieve the results of becoming "sensationally smooth" as promised by the product.
However, instead of her lips becoming "sensationally smooth," they began to crack on the edges, and by the next day, the surrounding skin had severe blistering and rashes prompting her to seek medical care on Dec. 7, 2015, reported FOX's Utah affiliate KSTU-TV.
She reportedly posted a picture of her lips on Facebook, later tweeted by TMZ, and received a plethora of responses from others who experienced or were currently suffering from the same problem.
EOS Lip Balm -- Customers Say, 'We'll Give You Lip, In Court!!!' https://t.co/r0ukW59832
— TMZ (@TMZ) January 14, 2016
"It became clear this was a massive national health problem," the suit reads. The lawsuit also claims that EOS had been informed of the issue but did nothing about it, and even continued with its present form of advertising.
In light of these allegations, the class-action suit, filed by prominent California-based lawyer Mark Geragos, seeks damages from EOS and demands the company address the alleged health concerns, as well as place warnings about the product in its packaging and ads, according to TIME.
EOS has since responded to the lawsuit with a post on Facebook saying, "Some of you may have seen reports of a lawsuit filed against our company. We wanted to be sure that you, our valued customers and fans, know that the health and well-being of our customers is our top priority. Our products are safe to use, are made with the highest quality ingredients and they all meet or exceed all safety and quality standards set out by our industry. An independent laboratory puts each of our products through a battery of rigorous testing to ensure this is the case. For these reasons, we firmly believe this lawsuit is without merit, and we will continue to create new and exciting products that delight our customers."
