Social media has undergone significant changes in the past couple of years, with one major shift being the influencer economy. In 2024, influencer marketing spending will rise roughly 3.5 times faster than social ad spending. Advertisers are catching on to this trend, recognizing the value of influencers on different social platforms.
Today, social media platforms depend on creators, as they generate engagement, attract users and encourage them to spend more time on those platforms. Brands understand influencers' role in the current landscape, the importance of adapting — and the risk of falling behind if they don’t.
In this article, we'll dive into the fastest-growing beauty influencers in 2024.
- What is a beauty influencer?
- Benefits of partnering with a beauty influencer.
- Most popular beauty influencer social networks.
- The top 20 beauty influencers by growth.
- How to work with beauty influencers.
What Is a Beauty Influencer?
A beauty influencer is an individual who impacts the beauty industry through their online presence, typically on platforms like Instagram, TikTok and YouTube. The beauty industry has multiple niches, such as cosmetics, skincare, haircare and nails. These influencers may possess professional expertise as skilled artists or passionately share their experiences and recommendations as enthusiasts.
Influencer content also casts a wide net, covering beauty products, skincare or haircare routines and makeup techniques. The impact of beauty influencers is gauged by their follower count and the trust and engagement they foster within their audience. Micro and nano influencers, for example, tend to earn higher engagement, while macro influencers have a higher reach.
Beauty influencers collaborate with brands, providing authentic reviews, tutorials and promotional content. Their social content influences consumer choices and helps shape trends in the ever-evolving beauty landscape.
Why Brands Benefit From Beauty Influencer Collaboration
Partnering with influencers can be instrumental for businesses that aim to amplify sales and enhance their brand profiles. Below are a few of the key benefits of collaborating with influencers.
Increased Reach and Engagement
Collaborating with beauty influencers allows brands to tap into the influencer's existing follower base, extending reach and fostering higher levels of engagement with a target demographic. Dash Hudson's recent report, 'The Power of Community,' uncovered that, on average, influencers who post branded content see 16 times higher Engagement Rates than the average rate.
Entertaining and Trend-Forward Content
Beauty influencers stay closely attuned to industry trends, making collaboration an opportunity for brands to engage in viral moments while crafting entertaining content.
Brands benefit from working with influencers to create entertaining and trend-forward content as it taps into the influencer's established audience, ensuring broader and more effective reach. Influencers are known for their creativity and grasp of current trends and can produce content that authentically resonates with followers, leading to higher engagement rates. This social entertainment collaboration enhances brand visibility and builds trust and credibility among a more targeted and receptive audience.
Authenticity and Credibility
Influencers help boost a brand's authenticity and credibility by lending their endorsement — often seen as more genuine and trustworthy by their followers. Their ability to create relatable and engaging content can humanize the brand, making it more approachable and appealing to the audience. An authentic connection, built on the influencer's credibility, can significantly enhance the brand's reputation and foster trust.
Beauty influencers bring authenticity to brand partnerships, providing genuine reviews and recommendations that resonate with their audience and enhancing the brand's credibility.
Most Popular Beauty Influencer Social Networks
In the current landscape, social media relies on influencers, and where influencers spend their time significantly shapes trends and consumer engagement.
In 2024, the forecast predicts that over $2 billion will be spent on Instagram for influencer marketing, making Instagram the top platform for beauty influencers. However, other platforms like TikTok, YouTube and Facebook are not far behind, with each expected to see over $1 billion in influencer marketing spending. While Instagram leads, it’s clear that advertisers plan to spread their budgets across social media platforms to make the most of various content and reach different demographics.
Top 20 Beauty Influencers
We analyzed nearly 80,000 beauty creators across cosmetics, skincare, hair care, fragrance and nail care industries to understand the top 10 creators based on their growth rate. Creators range from a follower size of 1,000 to over 1 million followers. This list is not exhaustive of all beauty creators; it is only a sample. Findings are based on data from January 1-September 1, 2023.
Growth Rate calculation: The percentage of followers increased during the reporting period. Growth Rate = (New Followers - Old Followers)/ Old Followers x 100
1. Carrie Muir
Handle: @goodhaircarrie
Growth Rate: 11,700%
Engagement Rate: 12.7%
Followers: 112K
Carrie shares easy-to-follow hair tutorials with Reels or carousel posts, including tips in the captions to execute the hairstyles. Her feed is cohesive, using a similar background and color scheme throughout her content.
2. Rosangel Cruz
Handle: @makeupbyrosangel
Growth Rate: 3,966%
Engagement Rate: 30.1%
Followers: 98K
Rosangel shares various beauty content on her feed, including makeup reviews, budget beauty tips, shopping hauls and more. This diverse content is a great way to satisfy a range of viewers with different budgets and interests.
3. Alycha Faith
Handle: @alychafaith
Growth Rate: 2,921%
Engagement Rate: 97.2%
Followers: 42K
Alycha Faith’s social media feed is visually consistent, providing beauty and lifestyle inspiration for viewers. Rather than focusing on tutorials and reviews, this creator incorporates her often-used beauty products into day-in-the-life content and more.
4. Fabiana V
Handle: @byfabilicious
Growth Rate: 2,785%
Engagement Rate: 4.7%
Followers: 261K
Fabiana is a beauty creator and makeup artist who often reviews makeup and skincare while reacting to other creators’ reviews. She’s created a consistent content style, using the TikTok filter ‘Green Screen’ to react and leverage UGC while adding value to the original content.
5. Adrianna Kalisz
Handle: @helloadri
Growth Rate: 2,487%
Engagement Rate: 59.4%
Followers: 29.2K
Adriana engages her followers via interactive series, like her video collection, where she creates a unique makeup look until she reaches 100K followers. She also makes clever use of the title image on her Reels content by incorporating Instagram beauty trends like product close-ups that give the viewer a glimpse into the tactile experience of a product.
6. Justyna
Handle: @judienowak
Growth Rate: 1,811%
Engagement Rate: 33.5%
Followers: 60K
Justyna has ultra-long hair, which inspires followers who seek to make their hair long, healthy and strong. She also provides hair styling tips, which are useful for people with similarly long hair looking for styling tips.
7. Claude
Handle: @claudinejay_
Growth Rate: 1,676%
Engagement Rate: 11.5%
Followers: 28K
Claude is a beauty creator who shares a mix of lifestyle content among beauty-focused content like brand reviews, nail inspiration and more. Despite featuring a range of colors and camera angles, her influencer identity shines through cohesively throughout her feed.
8. Brayan
Handle: @brayannbc
Growth Rate: 1,73%
Engagement Rate: 11.3%
Followers: 31.1K
Brayan shares beauty tutorials and tips to create a variety of makeup looks. His feed features a range of pointers and makeup styles, all with a close-up point of view to give users a close look at his process.
9. brittminetti
Followers: 1M
Handle: @brittminetti
Growth Rate: 1,569%
Engagement Rate: 22.7%
Followers: 137K
Brittany is a hair-focused beauty creator specializing in curly hair tutorials, tips and inspiration. Her feed provides a plethora of inspiration while maintaining a curated, cohesive feed of Reels and posts.
10. Adi Malnick
Handle: @adimalnick
Growth Rate: 1,300%
Engagement Rate: 283.3%
Followers: 31.1K
Adi is a makeup artist who shares behind-the-scenes glimpses of her process, from depotting products to bridal makeup shots. This account serves as great inspiration for users seeking professional routines and tips for an everyday makeup look.
11. Matt Randon
Handle: @mattrandon
Growth Rate: 1,295%
Engagement Rate: 8.8%
Followers: 805K
Matt Randon’s niche on Instagram lies in reaction videos. He reacts to viral or popular hacks, repurposing the creator’s original video while weighing in with his thoughts using the greenscreen effect. He uses a mix of informative responses with advice and enthusiastic reactions to entice users.
12. Lauren Lehnen
Handle: @lolo.lehnen
Growth Rate: 1,289%
Engagement Rate: 19.5%
Followers: 23K
Lauren creates stylized Reels that feature her routines, favorite products and more. These include ultra-creative and ambitious movie-inspired makeup looks to everyday tips for making your own cream blush and more.
13. Emilia Marantos
Handle: @byemmaleah
Growth Rate: 1,141%
Engagement Rate: 42.5%
Followers: 204K
Emilia focuses on beauty, skincare and lifestyle content, sharing her tips and creative videos that put an inspired spin on daily routines. Although she focuses on a range of beauty content, much of her feed is focused on hair tutorials and routine inspiration.
14. Nura
Handle: @nureenkhannn
Growth Rate: 1,085%
Engagement Rate: 180.3%
Followers: 32K
Nura’s feed features the beauty influencer’s long, thick glossy hair, which entices viewers looking to either improve their own hair health or style their own long hair. Her account offers tutorials, favorite products and more.
15. Marie Ferraby
Handle: @beauty.skin.and.me
Growth Rate: 1,030%
Engagement Rate: 122.4%
Followers: 75.1K
Marie attracts users with a feed full of cohesive, shiny product shots and unboxing videos that give viewers an up-close look at the consistency and texture of a product. These videos are great for viewers who want to discover more product features before making a purchase.
16. Aleia
Handle: @asalwaysaleia
Growth Rate: 943%
Engagement Rate: 7.5%
Followers: 130K
Aleia is a curly-hair creator whose colorful Instagram feed is full of hair tutorials with a sprinkle of lifestyle inspiration, which can help build relatability and interest for an audience. Her profile features a curated list of highlights to help viewers navigate to the specific tips they want to see.
17. Tyra Harrison
Handle: @tyra.mua
Growth Rate: 864%
Engagement Rate: 23.3%
Followers: 111K
Tyra’s unique, often-psychedelic makeup looks help captivate users with their playful color stories and creative looks. Her feed features a range of different looks from the Corpse Bride to neon glam — in many videos, she lip-synchs to a popular, trending Reels song or audio, which is another great way to boost engagement.
18. Nia Kajumulo
Handle: @niakajumulo
Growth Rate: 843%
Engagement Rate: 29.2%
Followers: 79K
Nia is a beauty and lifestyle creator who shares glimpses of her daily life, makeup routines and product reactions. Her feed is relatable, casual and cohesive.
19. Eilidh Moffat
Handle: @addicted_to_face
Growth Rate: 841%
Engagement Rate: 1.4%
Followers: 141K
Eilidh’s Instagram profile shows her enthusiasm for skincare and skin treatments throughout her whole feed. She shares her detailed thoughts on product performance, including unfiltered before and after shots, to give her audience a realistic picture of how products could work for them.
20. Tiffany
Handle: @makeupnco
Growth Rate: 812%
Engagement Rate: 59.6%
Followers: 63.6K
Tiffany shares hi-fi product close-ups and makeup tutorials throughout her girly feed. She also offers her thoughts on a range of product brands featured on her highlights reel so users can easily find reviews on specific brands.
How Beauty Brands Can Boost Influencer Marketing with Dash Hudson
Finding the right creators to partner with can be challenging — to help brands find the best influencers, Dash Hudson’s Relationships feature includes a Creator Discovery tool to help you build impactful, mutually beneficial partnerships. Brands can surface influencers by factors like followers, industry, interests, geographical location and more.
Creator Discovery enables your team to easily find the best creators for your unique social strategy without an extensive manual search — yes, even top beauty influencers. Social marketers can even drag and drop a single image to source creators who post similar content, finding the perfect visual match for their brand or product. By tapping into creators’ ultra-engaged communities, brands can increase their reach, generate brand awareness and more.
FAQs
How do beauty influencers make money?
Beauty influencers can make money through various channels and revenue streams. Beauty influencers generate income through sponsored content, affiliate marketing, product collaboration and brand ambassadorships. In today's landscape, social media platforms are evolving their product features to make it easier for influencers to monetize.
How many beauty influencers are there?
The beauty landscape on social media encompasses a range of influencers, from makeup artists and skincare enthusiasts to hairstylists and beauty gurus, collectively shaping trends and sharing their expertise with an expansive audience. The volume of influencers is ever-changing, making it hard to pinpoint an exact number.
Who is the richest beauty influencer?
Safiya Nygaard (@safiyany) stands out as one of the most prosperous beauty influencers, earning an estimated $200,000 per post. Initially recognized for her work with BuzzFeed and her popular series LadyLike, Nygaard has successfully expanded her influence, amassing a significant following on both Instagram and TikTok.
