Collaborating and Creating: Beauty Influencers’ Impact on Brands
For more information about Julius or our blog, please contact Russell Wilde Jr.
Digital influencers of all categories are on the rise. One genre, however, has dominated the space: beauty. Beauty influencers completely reshape how consumers choose what makeup to wear and what skincare products to buy. The digital age of beauty product advertising not only consists of reviewing brands in Youtube videos or giving a perfect smokey-eye tutorial, but now includes collaborating with brands to create makeup lines. Some even take it a step further and launch their own independent line of products.
The most popular example is UK beauty blogger Zoella, who has over 11 million followers on Youtube alone, 9 million on Instagram, and over 6 million on Twitter. She’s worked with brands such as TRESemme and Bombay. Millions of followers trust Zoella’s opinions on makeup and skincare — she shares thorough tutorials, monthly favorites, and features regular “New in Beauty” videos. Now the famous influencer has taken her love for beauty and skincare to a new level with her own line of products, Zoella Beauty. It features soaps, bath bombs, and various beauty products. The line is extremely well received in the UK and recently made its way to the US in American Eagle Outfitters and Tilly’s.
Jeffree Star, one of the top digital influencers on Myspace, also started his own cosmetics line after several years of working as a musician & makeup artist and sharing tutorials. His brand, Jeffree Star Cosmetics, includes highlighters, liquid lipsticks and plumpers.
As one of the original beauty influencers, Star is a trusted name in the lipstick world with his product often selling out quickly online as he begins to bring his products in stores worldwide.
Other influencers have collaborated with makeup brands to create something special and high quality for their loyal followers. Bunny Meyer, better known as grav3yardgirl, brings her own hilarious take on makeup reviews, hauls, and monthly favorites to over 7 million followers on Youtube. Recently, she partnered with Tarte Cosmetics to create the limited edition Swamp Queen eye and cheek palette and two lip paint colors. The palette repeatedly sold out and even caught the attention and recommendations of Jeffree Star and beloved beauty guru Tati Westbrook.
Carli Bybel collaborated with a lesser known, but highly reviewed brand, BH Cosmetics, to create her own highlighter and eyeshadow palette. Followers have praised her for the affordable price and wide availability, and the colors are inspired by warm, neutral makeup looks Carli is known for.
Jaclyn Hill, who has over 3 million followers on Youtube, partnered with Becca Cosmetics to create an exclusive line, Becca x Jaclyn Hill Champagne Collection, featuring highlighters, blushes, and primers, and once included an eyeshadow palette. Jaclyn and Becca Cosmetics decided to pull the palette from the line after customers expressed disappointment with the product due to a time crunch which caused it to be created in a different lab and not offer the same quality. Followers a respected Becca and Jaclyn’s sincere apology over the issue, choosing to confront it rather than ignore fans’ critiques.
These are only a handful of beauty experts out of millions of influencers who have collaborate with brands or worked independently to create their own cosmetics line so why are they so successful and how does it connect with followers?
Influencers, such as Zoella or Jeffree, create and grow and loyal following through skilled tutorials and extensive, honest opinions on a wide range of products. Followers know that these influencers appreciate quality and will trust a product that has their name. Even if they have a negative reaction, like Jaclyn Hill’s eyeshadow palette, they use social media to their advantage to sincerely apologize and keep their fans up to date on what is happening. It’s a reminder that they aren’t only a brand, but a person one can trust.
Some influencers may not always create their own line or collaborate to make a product, but will still partner with and swear by products. Tati Westbrook, also known as GlamLifeGuru, gained a heavily loyal following due to her honest critiques of high-end and drugstore beauty products. After all, who better than a highly trusted beauty guru to partner with Birchbox to share her faves?
Bottom line: beauty influencers are changing how products are researched, advertised, and bought. They’ve become trusted and popular enough to engage with a brand, make their own lines, while sharing powerful and organic messages to their followers. Julius includes thousands of beauty influencers, both well known and micro-influencers, ready to partner with beauty brands or even collaborate and create their own lines, and have a following ready to see what their favorite gurus do next.
Julius, a Thuzio solution, is a SaaS influencer marketing platform that provides marketers with rich social data, advanced search capabilities, and the campaign management tools required to organize a successful influencer marketing strategy.
For more information about Julius, our influencer marketing software, or our blog please contact Russell Wilde Jr.
