The cosmetics industry generates over $70 Billion annually in the United States alone and is expected to reach over $500 Billion globally this year. With an industry that size, there are countless influencers to partner with, but how do you find which ones will have the most impact on your target audience?
It’s time to move away from popular vanity metrics (e.g. follower counts, likes) and take an audience-first approach to guide your influencer discovery. Using StatSocial’s Silhouette™ platform, we first created an audience of those people engaging with cosmetic brands (e.g. Maybelline, Clinique, Cover Girl). We then analyzed that audience to get a list of the macro and micro influencers that they were most engaged with on social media. To read more about how we did this, check out our recent blog on influencer identification and discovery.
Here are the top 10 beauty influencers that could have the most impact on potential buyers in the cosmetics space.
Wayne Goss
YouTube Subscribers: 3.89M
Views: 535M
Twitter Followers: 118.8K
Instagram Followers: 702K
Wayne Goss is an English Makeup artist, YouTube personality, and entrepreneur who is most well known for his YouTube Channel which has attracted nearly four million subscribers. He has more than 15 years of experience as a celebrity makeup artist. In 2015, Goss partnered with Beautylish to release an eponymous makeup brush line.
Tati Westbrook
YouTube Subscribers: 3.89M
Views: 535M
Twitter Followers: 1.2M
Instagram Followers: 2.2M
Tati Westbrook is an American makeup artist and internet personality best know for her YouTube channel, Tati (formerly GlamLikeGuru). She has made a career around her honest reviews of various makeup, skincare, and other beauty products and is widely considered to be the ‘Mother of the YouTube Beauty Community’. On top of her YouTube career, Tati has started two wellness and beauty brands, Halo Beauty and Tati Beauty.
Kandee Johnson
YouTube Subscribers: 3.75M
Views: 437M
Twitter Followers: 752.8K
Instagram Followers: 1.9M
Kandee Johnson is an LA native who has been a key member of that MUA community on YouTube since 2009. The longtime makeup artist started blogging in 2008 and uploaded her first vlog the following year. She began hosting beauty and business ‘glaminars’ on her YouTube channel. Outside of YouTube, Kandee is part of the panel of judges on the makeup artist competition show Glam Masters.
Carli Bybel
YouTube Subscribers: 6.15M
Views: 639M
Twitter Followers: 536.8K
Instagram Followers: 4.7M
Carli Bybel is a popular makeup, beauty, fashion, and fitness YouTuber who began posting in 2011. Carli also runs a fashion Instagram account, The Fashion Bybel, which has over 1.8M followers.
Nikkie De Jager
YouTube Subscribers: 13.8M
Views: 1.5B
Twitter Followers: 2.2M
Instagram Followers: 15M
NIkkie De Jager is a Dutch makeup artist and beauty influencer who posts under the name NikkieTutorials. She began posting to her channel in 2008. Nikkie has worked with major beauty brands as an advisor as well as collaborating on makeup collections. In 2017, she was named as one of the Top 10 Beauty Influencers by Forbes. Nikkie was named a Goodwill Ambassador to the United Nations in 2020.
Nicole Guerrieo
YouTube Subscribers: 2.8M
Views: 359M
Twitter Followers: 426.5K
Instagram Followers: 1.8M
Nicole Guerriero is a self-taught makeup artist from St. Petersburg, Florida. She started her beauty and makeup channel in 2010 and in 2013, was voted Favorite YouTube Beauty Guru on Ryan Seacrest’s website. She has collaborated with Eylure as part of their vlogger series and with Anastasia Beverly Hills to create the Nicole Guerriero Glow Kit.
Michelle Phan
YouTube Subscribers: 8.84M
Views: 1.1B
Twitter Followers: 839.9K
Instagram Followers: 2M
Michelle Phan is a makeup artist, entrepreneur, and voice actress who began creating makeup-based online content in 2005 with a blog by the name of RiceBunny. In 2007, she started her YouTube channel under the same name. In 2011, she launched the beauty subscription box that would become Ipsy, which as of 2020 had over 3 million monthly subscribers. Michelle was named in both Inc.’s and Forbes’ 30 under 30 in 2015.
Bunny Meyer
YouTube Subscribers: 8.21M
Views: 1.5B
Twitter Followers: 744.3K
Instagram Followers: 2.1M
Bunny Meyers, better known as grav3yardgirl, is a longtime beauty YouTuber who has been posting to her channel since 2010. While her videos have covered a range of topics beyond just beauty-related ones, she has a prominent makeup community following and has collaborated with top makeup brands like Tarte.
Desi Perkins
YouTube Subscribers: 3.31M
Views: 259M
Twitter Followers: 731.6K
Instagram Followers: 4.2M
Desi Perkins is a content creator, entrepreneur, celebrity makeup artist, and beauty vlogger who has amassed a huge following on both YouTube and Instagram. She is the creator of several beauty and fashion brands, the most recent being a skincare line, Dezi Skin, which launched earlier this year.
Jefree Star
YouTube Subscribers: 16.1M
Views: 2.5B
Twitter Followers: 6.8M
Instagram Followers: 13.5M
Jeffree Star is a well know YouTube personality, makeup artist, and entrepreneur. As a young adult, Jeffree worked as a freelance makeup artist before his singer/songwriter career took off in 2007. In 2013, he left the music industry and by early 2014, he had transitioned back to the makeup industry with the start of his brand, Jeffree Star Cosmetics. It is at this time that he also began posting to YouTube as a way to promote his new makeup line. As of May 2021, Jeffree is one of the largest beauty YouTubers on the platform.