Kiss My Face Class Action Says ‘Natural’ Label is False Advertising

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The Kiss My Face cosmetics company has been falsely labeling its body lotion and body washes as “natural” when they in fact contain synthetic ingredients, according to a recently filed class action lawsuit.

Plaintiff Stefania Maniaci is raising false advertising allegations against defendants Kiss My Face Corp., Kiss My Face LLC and Bycmac Corp., the makers and marketers of hundreds of personal care products under the Kiss My Face brand. She alleges the labeling on these products violates New York State consumer protection laws.

Maniaci says she bought Kiss My Face body lotion several times within the last few years, in reliance on the products’ labeling that said they would “nourish naturally” and were “naturally effective.”

She says she understood these representations to mean that the products did not contain any synthetic ingredients. Based on those representations, she was willing to pay a premium for these skin care items over what she would have had to pay for other products not labeled as being “natural.”

But contrary to these products’ labeling, Maniaci says they contain at least two synthetic ingredients: phenoxyethanol and ethyl hexylglycerin.

Maniaci says these ingredients were the subject of complaints filed by the Federal Trade Commission in April 2016 against three cosmetics manufacturers who labeled certain products as “natural” even though they contained one or both of these ingredients. All three companies then agreed to stop promoting these products as “natural,” Maniaci states.

Had she known Kiss My Face products contained these supposedly synthetic ingredients, Maniaci claims she never would have purchased them.

She now believes Kiss My Face is mislabeling these products on purpose to take advantage of heightened consumer interest in natural products. According to one consumer survey, 86 percent of respondents said they understand “natural” labeling to mean that the product represented does not contain artificial ingredients.

Maniaci’s claim is the most recent in a line of Kiss My Face class action lawsuits challenging the brand’s “natural” labeling. In March of this year, California plaintiff Andrew Gasser brought his own Kiss My Face class action lawsuit raising similar claims under California consumer protection law.

Two months later, plaintiff Noriko Ikeda, also of California, brought her own action that specifically addresses the labeling on Kiss My Face sunscreen, body wash and body lotion.

In her own Kiss My Face class action lawsuit, Maniaci seeks to represent a plaintiff Class that would cover all persons who purchased Kiss My Face body lotion or body wash in the state of New York during the applicable statutory limitations period.

She is asking for an award of statutory, actual and punitive damages against the defendants, restitution and disgorgement of revenues related to the allegedly false advertisement, and reimbursement of her court costs and attorneys’ fees.

Maniaci’s attorney is Michael J. Gabrielli of Gabrielli Levitt LLP.

The Kiss My Face False Natural Labeling Class Action Lawsuit is Stefania Daidone Maniaci v. Kiss My Face Corp., et al., Case No. 1:17-cv-03670, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York.

UPDATE: The Kiss My Face False Natural Labeling New York Class Action Lawsuit was dismissed on September 13, 2017.