by If you have ever watched a video of a person unboxing beauty products that they received from a brand, you have seen first-hand beauty PR. This is a category of PR that is called influencer relations. It can be incredibly effective, or if done wrong, it can hurt a brand’s reputation.
Beauty PR is packages that cosmetics companies send to influencers for them to advertise the products on their social media channels. It is a way to showcase what is new and improved in the beauty community and it only costs the company the products they send out.
When a beauty company comes out with a new product, they will send out a “PR package” to all kinds of different influencers in the hopes that they will show the products on their social media and test out the products for their fan base. The only problem with this form of promotion is that there is no contract or guarantee that the influencer will ever use the product or show it on their channel.
However, who doesn’t love free products? So for the most part, influencers will do unboxing videos, or at least use the products in a video or social media post. This is because if they don’t, most cosmetics companies will remove them from their PR list, and they will no longer receive the free products.
Beauty PR companies have to do this because if they continue to send free products to influencers who never showcase the products, it is a waste of time and products where they could be sending them to other influencers who would gladly promote the companies products.
Cosmetics companies are constantly scanning the internet to see who is talking about their products or who would be a good candidate to use as a social media influencer for them. Companies will keep updating their lists as needed so if a new influencer comes up, they will ship products out as soon as possible. PR companies also have to monitor what is being said about the influencers they are sending products to, so they can best avoid sending products to people who are currently being “canceled.”
An example of a beauty influencer that I personally love to watch would be Youtuber Madison Miller. She regularly posts videos of what PR she got that week and I love to watch all of her videos. A more recent video she posted was, “HUGE PR HAUL UNBOXING! MASSIVE AMOUNT OF FREE MAKEUP @Madison Miller”
Here are some of the products and companies she talked about in the video:
- Colourpop x Animal Crossing
- Bobbi Brown foundation
- Bobbi Brown brush
- Bobbi Brown face base
- Bobbi Brown jelly stick
- Pixi Beauty
- Pacifica
- Fourth Ray Beauty lip mask
- Briogeo X Ulta
- Kate Somerville
Madison Miller does her PR unboxings regularly so she can keep her videos short and to the point so you can always see what is new in beauty PR. She also focuses her content on beauty, lifestyle, hair and mom content. She is a very well-rounded beauty blogger and her content is very good, making her a great candidate for beauty PR!
Hi Hailey! This was a really informative and interesting read. I know that influencer marketing is certainly becoming the next biggest thing in PR but it almost feels like brands have to take somewhat of a leap of faith when sending their products out. Unless they have some sort of contract or agreement with a particular influencer to positively review their products they run the risk of negative feedback. I know for me personally when someone who I trusts posts about a product that they really love I will feel extremely inclined to purchase that same product as I know it’s already been pre-screened. However, whenever I hear negative reviews of products I’ll steer clear of that particular item often times without doing my own research into the good or bad. I think as future PR professionals it is so important to recognize both the risks and rewards to this type of marketing.
Hey Hailey,
I love the topic! I am really into makeup and find watching unboxing, especially when they are quick! When I first saw the title, what came to my mind was other partnerships with celebrities, for example, Kylie Jenner and BOXYCHARM. However, we never see her use the products, or when she says she can’t wait to try it, I always wonder if she actually did. Personally, I think she must donate or give out the products to her friends since she has her own makeup line.
I see celebrities doing PR unboxings all the time and I found that until recently I didn’t understand what a PR box meant. Victoria Paris is one of the first influencers that I have seen be so transparent about who sends her PR. I find that when celebrities endorse a brand or product it is nice to feel a genuine connection between the two. However, creating a genuine environment is difficult. It seems that PR boxes are a great way to raise awareness about a brand. Familiarizing users is an extremely effective tactic to sell more products. People buy what they remember.
Hailey, this is so awesome! I watch a lot of YouTube beauty gurus, so this is very intriguing. Sometimes it is hard to tell which influencers are being authentic in their brand promotions/ads.
I love beauty PR and all things beauty and fashion. However, I do think that there can be a level of overconsumption and unrelatable feelings that comes with these PR hauls. I also think they may do more harm than good because it feels less authentic. (to me at least). Also, I will have to say that free makeup doesn’t pay rent, and I hope that brands who use influencer marketing take that into account. Great article!
I loved your post! Most of the time when people ask me an example of PR i tell them this topic! It’s weird to think that these people are getting free/new products so you don’t know if they’re being authentic. However, there are many other influencers that do give honest reviews for their personal gain and kind of bashing the brand. Very interesting post!
Hailey,
I feel like this was a super informative topic on influencer relations-something we see on social media every day but really don’t know exactly what it is or how it works. It’s interesting seeing celebrities/influencers that you follow post about a PR package they received and seeing if you can tell that they actually like/use the product or are just posting about it because they were told to do so.
Hi Hailey,
I enjoyed how informative your post was regarding influencer relations and how frequent they are in our daily lives. My sister watches a ton of beauty YouTube accounts and its was very interesting to read your perspective on how celebrity products are truly used.
This was an incredibly insightful blog for me. I never knew there was a completely separate PR package for influencers. I knew they would free products and discount codes but i thought it was something they wanted to do and not something where products were being wasted. I completely agree cosmetic brands are scamming the internet and how they need to do a better job at background checking who their influencers really are and what they stand for.
Hailey,
I loved reading your post and enjoy watching beauty influencer’s PR unboxing videos as well! However, the one thing that bothers me about this is that beauty influencers could afford to buy the products on their own. It would be cool if beauty companies would send PR packages to some of their normal customers as well. It might even make the reviews feel more genuine if they weren’t coming from a famous person whose goal is to make money from their videos.
Hi Hailey,
Your article was a great read, and so informative! It has been interesting to see how PR packages have become such a common thing. I remember when it was all of the A and B list celebrities sending each other PR boxes of their brands, but now it seems like everyone has access to getting some sort of beauty PR box sent to them. The use of these PR packages have also made the use of micro influencers some company’s main social marketing tactics.
I also love watching beauty and lifestyle YouTubers doing PR package unboxing. It’s interesting and cool to know and learn more about it from the PR standpoint. Brands are constantly having to scan for possible influencers to send products to in exchange for exposure . I remember one thing from watching those videos and doing more research on it was that the links they included were an affiliate link, which helps them generate a small profit from each time a product is purchased from that link. It’s cool to see how much social media and having a strong online presence can have such a huge impact on people.
I enjoyed reading your blog post about Beauty PR packages because I never thought about the motive of the companies. I do believe that at times PR packages can be wasteful because the influencer is only using the product once for the photo or advertising so it leads to products being wasted. Furthermore, the people who receive the gifts generally have a high profile or a huge following, so they get a lot of products for free. For example, someone like Kylie Jenner, who is a very influential figure has enough money to buy out the companies that send her gifts. I believe that businesses should reward their loyal consumers, similar to how Sephora offers a free gift to people who have birthdays, because they are the ones who ultimately support the brand.
Hi Hailey!
Super informative article. It is crazy to see how influencer marketing has grown over the last couple of years. I feel like brands are being risky by sending products to influencer but if they end up posting a positive video about the product then I definitely see how the risk is worth it. I personally love watching Mikayla unbox pr packages because she will say if she likes the products or not and it feels more honest.
I love beauty PR! and I love recommendations from my favorite influencers but I do think sometimes it can become a bit overwhelming feeling like you need a never ending abundance of products. Especially when influencers do a day in the life or a makeup tutorial, I feel like I’m 20 steps behind them in terms of how much I use on my skin of my makeup routine. I really loved this topic!
Hi Hailey!
Growing up I constantly watched makeup gurus on YouTube that bad pr makeup sent to them. At first I would always think the this new product they were taking about was “the one”. The makeup product that they use to get their flawless look, then after many many pr unboxing, I realized that this was just a marketing move. I now don’t value unboxing like I did before but I still think you can hear about some great products.