Woman questions Livaclean’s ‘Explore Bitcoin’ packaging. Then she looks into the company’s founder: ‘I’m making no allegations’
She went down the rabbit hole and found the rabbit
A woman questioned the packaging of her Livaclean pimple patches in a TikTok video but didn’t expect the founder to reach out. However, that wasn’t the end of the story, there was more to it, and Mikaila (mikcabre) explained everything in yet another TikTok video.
A few days ago, Mikaila pointed out that her new Livaclean pimple patch box featured the message “Explore Bitcoin” on the inside, rather than the motivational messages that had appeared there previously. In her latest video, she said the company’s owner reached out in the comments of her original video, not once, but multiple times, to offer an explanation.
Mikaila also showed that he emailed her and asked whether he could send her a “care package.” She declined and instead began digging into Anthony Bui-Tran, Livaclean’s founder. What she found next was truly unexpected.
She discovered that Tran had a YouTube page, and several of his videos focused on teaching people how to earn money through Alibaba. After noticing how often Tran mentioned Alibaba, she searched the site for pimple patches without expecting much and was thoroughly surprised by what she found.
She found pimple patches that looked exactly like the ones Livaclean was selling. What’s more, the patches could be customized by shape, size, and color. This reminded Mikaila that she had previously purchased Livaclean pimple patches that looked different.
“I Google Alibaba acne patches, and lo and behold… some of you might be thinking, well there’s hearts in these ones that are on Alibaba, there’s there’s teardrops, and they’re in a different configuration.” Mikaila said. She continued, “ You can adjust which ones you want in your pack and how you want them laid out. You can even adjust the size if you want to. You can adjust the packaging if you want to.”
However, despite her findings, she made it clear that she was not blaming anyone and that it was up to the audience to decide what to make of the situation based on the available information.
“I’m making no allegations here,” Mikaila said. She added, “The information’s out there for yourself. But I’m just saying when it says made in China, design in the USA, I think they’re talking about the packaging. And what could be more USA than that, truly.”
“This is investigative journalism”
The verdict is in, and some people in the comments on Mikaila’s post think she has amazing investigative skills. One user wrote, “This is investigative journalism.” Another said, “this is insane boots on the ground journalism.”
A few others, on the other hand, said they wouldn’t be surprised if Livaclean was reselling Alibaba products, noting that such practices are common. One person wrote, “To be fair most companies drop ship even huge stores like urban outfitters do it.”Another individual stated, “I’m honestly not surprised that they picked acne patches specifically to invest in, because the actual material is so cheap that you’re mostly just paying for a design. Seems like the thing a guy trying to game the system would pick.”
One person suggested Mikaila buy hydrocolloid tape, saying it costs less and that you get more pimple patches from it than from a regular pimple patch leaflet. They wrote, “I know you may like the shapes and stuff, but I get a 2-inch by 6-foot roll of hydrocolloid tape for 12 dollars… I just cut it to the size I want. It’s also way stickier, and I can sleep with it, and it never comes off.”
What would you do if you were in Mikaila’s place? Would you have taken the care package?
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