Caroline Calloway to launch homemade skincare ‘potion’ named ‘Snake Oil’

‘My friends were like, oh my god, you should sell this. And I was like, oh my god, I love money’

Caroline Calloway, 29, tells her followers on Instagram she plans to sell her homemade face oil concoction under the name “Snake Oil" (Caroline Calloway/@carolinecalloway)

Internet star Caroline Calloway has said she wants to launch and sell a special blend of her own face oil through Instagram, called “Snake Oil”.

The 29-year-old detailed her new venture on Instagram Stories, in which she said she has “the skin of a viral 18-year-old TikToker”.

Ms Calloway, who rose to popularity for her Instagram posts with long, diary-style captions, claimed her homemade “elixir of youth” was effective for treating ageing skin and acne.

She did not disclose the exact ingredients in the face oil, but told a follower they would be listed “when we get professional labelling done”.

In her video, she showed a hand-drawn label created for her product, featuring the name “Snake Oil” and a rough illustration of a red snake surrounded by blue scribbles.

She told her followers on Instagram the product would be priced at US$75 (£54.30) for a one-ounce (approximately 30ml) bottle and US$210 (£152.03) for a four-ounce (118.3ml) bottle. Calloway said she plans to raise the price of the larger bottle to US$250 (£180.99) after she upgrades to “official packaging”.

“We all know that I have amazing skin. This is just historically correct – I have the skin of a viral 18-year-old TikToker and I’m turning 30 in December,” said Ms Calloway.

“I think something that not a lot of people know is that I’m obsessed with making my own special face oil concoction.”

Ms Calloway said she was encouraged by her friends to sell the face oil after she made gift batches for them. She said: “My friends were like, oh my god, you should sell this. And I was like, oh my god, I love money. What a great idea.”

She added that she had been working on “other projects that needed my attention more urgently”, suggesting that her upcoming book Scammer is in the late stages of being released.

In an Instagram post after her announcement, Ms Calloway said the first nine bottles of the product were sold out, but told followers they could “join the waitlist” by leaving a comment.

Ms Calloway gained notoriety after she charged fans US$165 (£119.45) to attend a “creativity workshop” in New York. After promising that attendees would receive personal letters, a flower crown and a care package, she cancelled most of the workshops.

She was further catapulted into the spotlight after her former friend Natalie Beach wrote an exposé in The Cut, claiming to have been a ghostwriter for Calloway’s Instagram account and worked extensively on Calloway’s book deal that fell apart.

The influencer has since leaned into the label, announcing in January 2020 she was writing a book titled Scammer.

On Tuesday, after revealing her “Snake Oil” product, Ms Calloway tweeted: “I am the grift that keeps on giving.”