By Kathleen Sharp
Gone are the days of beauty gatekeepers like Chanel and Dior in department stores or Maybelline and L’Oréal in drugstores. Skincare and beauty, it seems, can (and are) being launched by any celebrity and beauty influencer with an engaged fanbase. In fact, many of today’s biggest stars who have in the past starred in traditional beauty and fashion campaigns (the Kardashian-Jenners, Hailey Bieber, Serena Williams) are now launching their own lines and filing trademarks for beauty brands. Why? The beauty market is exploding with growth and projected to continue to grow annually by 4.4% for the next few years. The growing collection of celebrities and influencers hope to cash in on a get-richer-quick trend best modeled by pop culture icons-turned-beauty moguls Kylie Jenner and Rihanna.
Kylie models for Kylie Cosmetics. Image Credit: Instagram /@kyliecosmetics
Both women had their net worths boom after launching their lines and becoming successful businesswomen. Rihanna, whose beauty line “Fenty” is an LVMH brand, has an estimated net worth of $600 million—which is the highest net worth of any female musician and despite not having released an album since 2016. Kylie Jenner is a classic rags-to… erm, well, riches-to-more-riches tale being named by Forbes the world’s youngest self-made billionaire after selling half her company Kylie Cosmetics to beauty multinational Coty Inc. in 2019.
Recently Hailey Bieber, tennis superstar Serena Williams, and Gwen Stefani have all recently filed for beauty trademarks, and Cardi B has announced plans for a beauty line, showing that career background doesn’t matter much, as long as you have a large enough platform to start from. It makes sense that celebrities and beauty influencers would use their already huge platforms to promote new entrepreneurial endeavors. Their existing network of followers on social media means they have direct access to loyal fan bases—and thereby potential customers. These figures then become the both literal face of their brands, and in consumers’ minds, the brands often become synonymous with the same values and personalities of their celeb founders.
For a natural look, actress Millie Bobby Brown applies a light coat of mascara. Image Credit: Instagram /@florencebymills
For instance, young fans of Millie Bobby Brown might go for the more natural, understated makeup looks worn by the 16-year-old actress and sold by her makeup brand florence by mills. Selena Gomez fans love the message behind her brand Rare Beauty which champions individuality and loving oneself because they know Gomez has long been a proponent of self-love per 2011 pop banger. “Who says you're not beautiful,” anyone?
While it certainly helps, you don’t have to be an A-list or internationally known celebrity with tens of millions of Instagram followers to launch a successful brand. Instagrammer and influencer Negin Mirsalehi began her own hair brand called Gisou Hair. The brand uses beeswax (propolis) as a fortifier, an idea she thought of because of her family’s history of beekeeping. Self-funded through Miraselhi’s earnings as an influencer, Gisou brought in nearly $3 million in sales last year.
Promotional photo for an Osée Beauté hair serum. Image credit: Instagram /@oseebeaute
Recently announced, Osée Beauté, founded by French fashion blogger, television presenter and actress Caroline Receveur is a hair care brand already receiving lots of attention from Receveur’s fans. Her tosselled, wavy hair is part of her signature look, and after two years of work and product development, Osée Beauté’s Instagram already has over 100 thousand followers, undoubtedly ready to snatch the new products up!
Beauty and wellness bloggers Marianna Hewitt and Lauren Gores Ireland launched their own skincare company called Summer Fridays which is now carried at Sephora, Mecca, Selfridges, and Cult Beauty. This cruelty-free, vegan brand quickly grew a cult-like following for their lightweight serums and masks.
There are many other perfect examples of influencers and celebrities’ successful forays into the beauty product business, and we can only expect this trend to grow as influencers turn to product selling as a more steady form of revenue.
Do you have any other favorite celeb or influencer beauty products? Let us know in the comments.✨