We all love to grab an online beauty bargain, but 19-year-old Beth King’s harmless swatching took a turn for the worst when the LA Splash lipsticks that she bought burned through her skin.

*WARNING – it’s probably not best to read this whilst eating your lunch. Gruesome images are just a click away.*

“I ordered some lipsticks online and naturally I was very excited about it. The LA Splash Lipsticks that I chose were gorgeous, I remember thinking to myself ‘they’re velvet, they’re matte and they’re liquid – what could be better?’. Little did I know what was about to happen.

“I ordered four of them in different colours. They finally arrived and I was with my friend at the time, I was testing and swatching them on my hands and I remember us both swooning over how amazing the colours were. Then we decided to go out for food and I was wearing a white top, so I thought that just to be careful and make sure that my clothes didn’t get stained I would remove the swatches from my hand.

Beth’s hand immediately after removing the lipstick swatches

“So just when I was taking the lipstick off the back of my hand, thinking ‘what could go wrong?’ I suddenly noticed three burn marks. I was totally in shock, and then my hand really began to sting. You know when you get a burn and when you run it under cold water it stings badly? It was like that, just without the water. My skin was burning and it hurt so much. I couldn’t believe that the lipsticks had caused such a reaction and made my skin melt away, I was just so glad I hadn’t put them straight on my lips!

Beth’s wounds one week after the incident

“I was concerned that I needed to get some plasters or some cream on the burns as soon as possible to keep them protected from infection. I got some plasters and put them on but they wouldn’t stick down due to the skin still being wet so I just sucked it up and let the skin get to my hand, I hoped for the best and that maybe the air would speed up the healing process.

“About a week after the incident, I’m not sure if it got infected or something but it started to get so much worse. There were bright red marks around the burns, my hand was so sore and I had no idea what was going on. I couldn’t believe that the lipsticks had caused this much damage! I went to the doctors and they told me that it was infected. I have no idea what chemical caused the reaction, I have sensitive skin but I’ve never ever had a reaction like this before to anything, I’ve never even had a reaction to any kind of makeup before!

“I’ve got these three big scars now and they’re taking forever to heal, which is making me wonder whether the chemical is still in my skin and slowing down the mending process. I had the reaction in the middle of March, so now it’s almost been a month since I was injured. I paid £11 each for the lipsticks, so they weren’t particularly cheap. I had faith in the products because they were kind of pricey and therefore I didn’t think they’d have dodgy ingredients, and they had brilliant reviews.

Beth’s scars now

“One of the lipsticks didn’t actually give me a reaction, which is why there’s an odd gap in between my scars. It was the darker shades that gave me burns. I bought a nude shade, a slightly red shade, a purple and a deep purple. It was all of the dark shades that I had a reaction to, so perhaps their pigment is made from a different chemical.

“Maybe it was just me, my bad luck and my sensitive skin, but I’ve certainly learned a lesson from this and I’m much more cautious about the ingredients in the lip products that you’re putting on your skin.”

Beth has contacted LA Splash about her experience with their liquid lipsticks. The company offered her a refund and told her that she “did the right thing” consulting a doctor. We contacted LA Splash to find out what else they had to say on the matter, and if any other customers had experienced such an awful reaction to the lipsticks. David Sheen, the CEO of of Jon Davler Inc (who manufacture LA Splash), said: “I offered Beth a refund because she was unsatisfied with our products, not because she had a reaction”.

Have you ever had any awful reactions to a makeup or skincare product? Send us a tweet (or a gruesome image) to @canvasmaguk, or tell all in the comments below!