by By: Whitney Conaghan
For decades, and even centuries, beauty and skincare have remained prominent industries, with countless brands producing products across the globe. With a market valued at over $571 billion in 2023, people are recognizing the potential for profit in skincare and beauty – especially celebrities.
High-profile actors, music artists and models are using their influence to launch their own brands. Some examples include Kylie Jenner’s Kylie Cosmetics, Hailey Bieber’s Rhode Skin, Rhianna’s Fenty Beauty, Selena Gomez’s RARE Beauty and Lady Gaga’s Haus Labs.
Celebrity marketing is nothing new. Talent has backed brands forever, but these celebrities are no longer just the face of a brand — they’re the owners and creative directors, meaning they have the freedom to curate their own version. Unlike the introduction of a new beauty brand, celebrities don’t have to build awareness from scratch because they can rely on their established media presence.
Social media is of the utmost importance in this new wave of celebrity beauty brands. Selena Gomez can post an Instagram story advertising a new RARE Beauty product and quickly reach her 411M followers, whereas competing makeup brands like MAC Cosmetics or Benefit Cosmetics possess a smaller Instagram presence, with 24.6M and 9.9M followers, respectively.
With the rise of social media, fans now know celebrities on a far more intimate level by being granted virtual permission to see aspects of their lifestyle and daily routine. Celebrities have an existing audience, with social media followers hanging on to their every word, so it makes sense to launch a business that leverages their preexisting influence, especially as their careers evolve and transform.
How does this influence the success of makeup brands? It means authenticity is an important factor in the equation. If a celebrity is faking a relation to a product or industry, their fans are going to catch on quickly, causing them to break the trust formed through a parasocial relationship.
We saw this in 2019 when Stranger Things actress Millie Bobby Brown launched her skincare brand, Florence By Mills. To advertise the launch, she took to the popular tactic of showing the products in an Instagram video. But instead of educating her followers about the new skincare line in a relatable manner, she performed a facade, lathering the products on her skin with no water or soap in sight. After receiving criticism on social media, Brown had to issue an apology statement stating that she is “not an expert” and “still learning the best way to share [her] routines.”
When the new beauty brand is authentic to the celebrity creator’s personal brand, it is already advertised to the ideal target audience found within the celebrity’s followers. After years of speaking out about the need for inclusivity and diversity, Rihanna noticed a gap in the makeup industry for brands making foundation and concealer for darker skin tones. She created Fenty Beauty to cater to the audience she’s been standing up for, thus cultivating a genuine introduction into the industry and turning her fans into consumers. Fenty’s earned media value outplaced the earnings of other major makeup brands, like Urban Decay and NYX. In the first month of the brand’s launch, 132 million people watched Fenty tutorials on YouTube.
Celebrities have long set the basis for beauty ideals, and fans no longer need to just mimic their beauty routine – they can copy it. The celebrities behind the brand post tutorials and routines with the products, often advertised as the secret to how they keep their skin glowing or achieve a desired makeup look. Whether you believe it or not, millions of their social media followers will.
Whitney Conaghan is a senior public relations student at the University of Oregon. Connect with Whitney on LinkedIn or visit her website to view more of her work.
The makeup world is so big now that it’s hard to understand when influencers use terms like limited edition because when their products sell out in minutes, their large following is begging for a restock. TikTok has influenced and changed almost my entire makeup routine as my curiosity continues to find the best products and tips. I do believe influencers are learning how to be more authentic online because how one might view their words and actions can completely change overnight.
I really like how you started this post with a brief overview of the beauty/skincare industry. The numbers truly show how much money lies in these industries and alludes to why these celebrities want to be a part of them. I found the section about authenticity to be the most interesting. I would be curious to see how many people truly find celebrities to be “authentic”.
As someone who uses beauty products every day, I can agree that social media has an enormous impact on what kinds of products I choose to purchase. The increase in influencers and celebrities creating makeup and skincare brands is quite interesting when determining what types of products are popular in the market because these celebrities already have established fanbases. I think this just goes to show how the power dynamic between a celebrity and their fans is always skewed in favor of commoditizing fans’ adoration of the celebrity or influencer. Regardless, a lot of celebrity makeup brands are successful because those companies know how to listen to their audiences and adapt to their desires.
I enjoyed reading your post! This is a topic that has been on my mind lately, so it was interesting reading this. I definitely agree that social media has a big impact on what kinds of products people use. I know when there was Hailey Bieber and Selena Gomez drama, people stopped buying Kylie Cosmetics and Rhode Skin in support of RARE Beauty. For me, personally, I do buy certain makeup brands according to the celebrity that made it. Good job on your Post!