What's the Deal with All These Celebrity Beauty Brands?
As more and more celebrities enter the beauty world, we can't help but wonder why?
From OG makeup moguls Kylie Jenner and Rihanna to musicians like Harry Styles and, soon, model Hailey Bieber, it seems that launching your own beauty brand has become a right of passage in the realm of the rich and famous.
It is no secret that celebrity culture always had, and still has, quite the grip on us. This is not a recent phenomenon and can be traced back all the way to the ’50s with Marilyn Monroe’s signature platinum curls and dashing red lipstick. As a matter of fact, this style still embellishes the red carpet with Jessica Chastain and Taylor Swift emulating these timeless classic curls to achieve that timeless Hollywood glamour look.
Fast forward to the '90s and we wholeheartedly trusted Cameron Diaz and Christina Aguilera into overplucking our eyebrows (something some of us may still regret to this day) and religiously slapping on our shiniest lip gloss.
Our love for celebrity beauty has always been prominent and only keeps growing, and because of this, being a beauty ambassador for major brands such as Pantene or L’Oréal or being the face of a new campaign simply just isn’t enough for celebrities.
While they began to slowly take deeper steps into the beauty industry and gain control over their image and branding by releasing their own fragrances, it wasn't until Jenner released her Kylie Lip Kits in 2014 that the celebrity beauty brand trend truly took off. From here on, simply endorsing a certain beauty product lost traction and celebrities wanted to become their own brand.
Quickly following suit, Fenty Beauty by Rihanna completely revolutionized the industry. Her first foundation line, which was available in 50 different shades (an offer unheard of before), led to what was called “The Fenty Effect”—a call for brands to do better and challenge the norms by focusing on bringing more inclusivity to the world of beauty.
Since then, celebrity beauty brands have been emerging left, right, and center. We saw Selena Gomez’s homemade videos on how to use her Rare Beauty products, Ariana Grande’s R.e.m beauty line, and Kim Kardashian launching KKW Beauty in addition to Skims (a billion-dollar underwear label).
Now, even Styles has joined the trend with his new brand Pleasing – offering a range of nail polishes, eye serums, and lip oils to consumers. Following that, Bieber's the next star to hop on the bandwagon with her upcoming skincare brand, Rhode. Although Rhode has not launched yet, its success is promising as its Instagram account has already amassed a strong following of 65k.
So why are so many celebrities creating their own beauty lines?
Not only is this their way to take control over their own branding as an individual, but it is also their way of bridging the gap between them and us. By creating their own brand that represents their values and their identity, they are able to create closer relationships between themselves and their fans (or, soon to be consumers). In the end, not only is it financially beneficial for them, but we also get closer to our desire to achieve perfect celebrity-like skin and looks.
