It can be tough for a beauty company to differentiate themselves from the rest of the crowd.

But it's even tougher if the social influencer you work with doesn't abide by your instructions.

Social influencer volunteered

Local online store Beauty Carousel wanted to promote their product, the Bio-Piel Petit Ato Body Lotion.

It costs $59.90 for a 400 ml bottle, but the one they offered for PR purposes was a 200 ml bottle shipped in from Korea.

They decided the best way was to get an influencer to use it and do a shout-out via an Instagram post.

On May 12, 2018, social influencer Priscilla Gan responded and said she was interested. She agreed to promote the body lotion in an Instagram post.

Gan did give a shoutout to the body lotion on May 24 -- but it was in an Instagram story, not an Instagram post.

For those not in the know, an Instagram story disappears after 24 hours (unless you save it) while an Instagram post stays up on your profile page.

Beauty Carousel didn't realise that Gan had yet to post on her Instagram until sometime in October:

Unfortunately, Gan had already finished using the product:

"More of an outdoor lifestyle theme"

However, Gan declined to re-post the picture on her Instagram profile as she felt it did not suit her profile's "lifestyle outdoor" theme.

Still, she asked for another bottle of the product:

But Beauty Carousel declined, and reminded her of their agreement to promote the product via an Instagram post, not an Instagram story:

They suggested using the old photo in a new multiple image post, with Gan posing in one photo and the pic of the body lotion in another.

Gan agreed to do so on Oct. 18, then mysteriously ceased communications with Beauty Carousel:

She was apparently uncontactable by Instagram DM, emails or Whatsapp.

Beauty Carousel also claimed that they tried calling Gan by phone, only to have her claim the reception was bad and hang up after they introduced themselves.

Gan has promoted other products and services through her Instagram posts, but still not the body lotion as of Nov. 22.

Mothership reached out to Priscilla Gan by email for comment one week ago, and followed up with a reminder via Instagram DM, but she has yet to reply.

(Editor's update): At about 3:00 pm on Nov. 23, Gan replied to Mothership's messages.

She said that she created the Instagram story for Beauty Carousel "immediately".

She also said that months afterwards, Beauty Carousel requested for an Instagram post, but she lost the product. Hence she wishes to remain with the Instagram story at the moment.

Gan added that she will settle payment with Beauty Carousel.

(Editor's update, 5:30 pm): Gan also provided a screen shot of two calls she supposedly had with Beauty Carousel on Nov. 2, which you can see below.

She said this showed she was "contactable", but her response was "slow".

Top image adapted from @prissygan's Instagram page and pic by Beauty Carousel.

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