A stoush has kicked off over a $1000 request, leaving the internet divided over the value of influencer exposure.
When Perth makeup artist Ella Starr recounted a recent encounter with a reality star turned content creator, she didn’t anticipate the whirlwind that would follow.
“The internet can be so scary. I have received quite a lot of backlash with some people being so nasty,” Ms Starr told news.com.au.
The 22-year-old, who owns Makeupbyellastarr, had heard former Love Island Australia winner, Yana Marks, was heading to Perth – and decided to shoot her shot.
“I reached out to Yana after a hair stylist mentioned she was coming to Perth and needed a glam team for an event. The stylist said there was a $1000 fee to take part, which I could split with her,” Ms Starr recounted.
She felt the rate was “extremely high” considering she would also be doing the make-up for free, so she decided to reach out to the influencer directly to introduce herself.
“My only intention was to offer my services while she’s in town for any make-up support she might need. It wasn’t necessarily for that specific event. I was simply just putting my own name out there,” she said.
However, the response she received left her “shocked and quite surprised”: a $1000 fee.
“I didn’t think the requirements were reasonable. It felt like an extremely high fee for a service the influencer was requesting, especially with no artistic control given to me,” she explained.
“If the influencer is also benefiting from your services, like getting their make-up or hair done for an event they’re attending, it’s not fair to charge the service provider a big fee on top of them already providing [a service].”
So she made a TikTok, believing that many others in her field would feel similarly.
“I completely understand that this is her job as an influencer. That includes promoting things. However, there’s a big difference between a paid advertisement and a collaboration where the influencer is also needing and benefiting from receiving the services, like make-up for an event she’s attending,” she said.
While Ms Starr didn’t initially name the influencer in the video, it didn’t take long for internet detectives to correctly guess who she was referring to.
Marks has a following of 235,000 on TikTok, while over on Instagram she has another 282,000 followers.
Hundreds of thousands of views quickly racked up on Starr’s post, with her comment section offering varying opinions.
“Unfortunately, you’re using her for marketing and to boost your business through being in the public eye…she deserves to be compensated also,” one person wrote.
Another shocked user said: “She wanted YOU to give HER $1000? I have never heard of this.”
“Exposure to her 234,000 followers is absolutely worth $1000. How much would people pay to advertise your business? You wouldn’t have approached her offering services for free if you didn’t value what she has built,” a third pointed out.
Where Ms Starr saw an expensive invoice, hairstylist Amy Monty saw a digital billboard for her business, Image Hair.
“From my perspective, after being in the hair industry for 16 years, everyone starts somewhere. I used to pay for advertising in magazines. Now it’s 2026 and our advertising is social media, influencers, public figures,” Monty told news.com.au.
“I personally can see the value in paying someone like Yana to post content of my work, as she is young, driven and relevant in the world of social media right now.”
She says within the drama, there’s a valuable lesson for business owners when it comes to influencer marketing.
“If I think my business is going to benefit from a certain type of advertising I’m going to take that opportunity. If you don’t like the collaboration deal and you can’t see the value in it or you don’t think it will benefit you in any way, then simply decline the offer. In my eyes it’s as simple as that,” she insists.
Marks revealed online that the make-up artist she worked with “captured about a month’s worth of content” during their session.
“For everyone who thinks she’s charged me $1000 for make-up is wrong. Myself and a hairstylist halved this cost and used the opportunity as an investment into gaining quality content for our pages,” the owner of Glam’d By Danae said when defending Marks.
Marks was quick to offer her own defence in comment sections on her social media accounts, responding with “I don’t get rent free cause I’m an influencer” to one user.
“It’s a make-up artist, it’s not a product. By looking at their page, you can see if they are good or not. My job isn’t to convince you to get your make-up done; it’s to show you who is out there and show you their work so when you need that service, you know who you can go to,” she explained to another.
Starr shared that in the aftermath she has been “quite disappointed with some bigger names in the industry”, claiming they’re “choosing to focus more on protecting an influencer’s reputation” and “indirectly fuelling more hate towards” her.
“I am just a normal person trying to speak up for other people who are in the same work field as me,” she said.
Yana Marks declined news.com.au’s request for comment.
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