I think a difference might be that most leather products are "side-effects" of meat production, so whether the leather is used for clothing or other items or gets thrown away, it makes no difference to the already dead animal. In fact since the animal is already dead, it seems more " environmentally friendly" to use leather for example for shoes than mineral oil, which is the basis of faux-leather - in the form of various plastics; though I am aware of the fact that the tanning of leathers needs many chemicals, too.
Just about the leather vs vegan lifestyle, this seems to be a tricky point, but since there are definitely plenty of people who consume meat, I would suppose in an overall sense, to make use of the large amount of leather as by-product might possibly be even more environmentally friendly than faux leather, because oil-drilling and spills can also harm the ecosystem with all the animals in it.
In the end, also her products of course use plastic (in the packaging) and chemical ingredients, same as most other cosmetics companies, and probably she is not perfect. However, if we give up on every aspect of a better lifestyle because we can't conquer them all at once, then everything would be pretty hopeless. If I were happy that I did one thing better than before, and then everyone comments about the 99 other things that are still not so good, it might be demotivating
I agree that probably the wording of the post was not as balanced as it could have been, especially factoring in the large readership and her role in the company. But as was pointed out in another comment over here, maybe if we knew what all the other CEOs and employees of MAC, UD, Chanel, Maybelline etc think about various subjects, we might not buy from them, either.
Definitely I do not aim to offend anyone, and I know Specktra is not really for such discussions, but as the subject is out already, I would like to add: if people look out for vegan products because they want to protect animals, there might be considered that animals are part of an ecosystem and all actions that protect this ecosystem, for example trying to live a less pollutive lifestyle (use of less / cleaner energy, use of fewer plastic products, use of fewer chemicals and so on) are all aspects of that, too.
So to drive by car to the store to buy a vegan product in a plastic box might counteract the whole good intention. I am not exluding myself here, I am guilty of just that; it is just an illustration of the thought that it's hard to live a 360°perfect life, so every kind of awareness and good intentions does help already because it is better than not caring, but it's not yet a big solution of anything.
I suppose KvD aimed to point out that also the animals used for meat production do suffer and are killed for humans, but the approach of it might have gone wrong.
I don't feel offended by it; so I won't stop buying; something like bad customer service or being treated snobbily byVer employees are things that make me go off a brand much more easily.
