Actress-singer Selena Gomez, from HULU's Only Murders in the Building is on her way to becoming a billionaire. Her makeup and wellness brand Rare Beauty brings in about $300 million a year.
Gomez's business also scored number one in popularity, according to a survey by Fresha. Her brand has 6.1 million followers on Instagram, 6 billion annual views on TikTok, 227,544 videos posted on that platform, and the second-highest monthly search volume, with an average of 621,500 monthly searches worldwide.
And Rare Beauty is only one of Gomez's ventures. She also owns the July Moon production company, Serendipity restaurant in New York City, the Serendipity ice cream brand, and is the CEO of WonderMind media company.
Beauty Is a Big Deal
Gomez isn't the only celebrity with a beauty brand. Fresha's survey lists 25 beauty companies owned by celebrities, including Lady Gaga, Gwyneth Paltrow, Kylie Jenner, and Rhianna.
NIQ, a consumer intelligence company, reports sales of celebrity beauty products hit $762 million in 2022. Four new brands have launched in 2023, and 42 celebrity brands have come on the market since 2019.
Celebrities leverage their fame and social media presence to generate market enthusiasm and sales. NIQ theorizes part of this includes the trust fans have in their favorite stars, increasing the likelihood of them buying brands with the celebrity stamp.
William Zeqiri, founder and CEO of Fresha, says, “Celebrity-owned beauty brands allow fans the opportunity to use products designed by people they admire and support.”
Survey Notables
Kylie Cosmetics from Kylie Jenner placed second in Fresha's popularity survey. The brand offers makeup and skincare, as well as baby products. Jenner no longer holds a controlling interest in the company after selling her 51% share of the company to Coty, Inc., three years ago. She is attempting to buy back her control of the company, according to Fortune, but this has not been worked out.
Sports media company ClutchPoints reports the Kylie Cosmetics brand accounts for 63% of Coty's total revenues. The brand has 25.6 million Instagram followers and averages 246,000 searches each month. The company also hits TikTok with 2 billion posts using #kyliecosmetics. According to ClutchPoints, Jenner is the most followed woman on Instagram, with 380 million followers — 46 million more than the current U.S. population.
Singer Rhianna's company Fenty Beauty, is third on the Fresha popularity list.
According to Essence Magazine, Fenty averages about 656,000 searches per month and is worth $2.8 billion. Its annual revenue is $582 million, making it the world's most successful celebrity beauty brand.
Fenty Beauty offers makeup, skincare, and fragrance and boasts 12.6 million Instagram followers.
Florence by Mills ranks fourth on this list. Actress Millie Bobby Brown launched the brand in 2019. Its vegan, cruelty-free makeup and skincare products are popular with the Gen Z crowd.
The brand garnered 1 billion views on its TikTok videos and has 3.3 million followers on Instagram. It averages 292,300 searches each month. While its revenue isn't as high as others on the list, that's partly due to its lower-than-average prices. InStyle, a beauty and fashion website, reports none of the Florence by Mills products are over $36.
Actress-singer Ariana Grande owns r.e.m. beauty, which is in fifth place on the Fresha list. Launched in 2021, the brand is also vegan-friendly, and products are packaged with recyclable materials. Fashion Network, a website for fashion professionals, reports that r.e.m. beauty racked up $84 million in sales in 2022.
The brand markets cosmetics and skincare and has over 1 billion views on #rembeauty at TikTok. It has 1.8 million Instagram followers and averages 184,000 monthly searches.
The Next Five
Brands that are in the bottom half of the top 10 are still popular companies, while they may not garner quite the numbers of the top five.
Internet personality and makeup artist Jeffree Star's brand, Jeffree Star Cosmetics, is sixth on Fresha's list. This brand sells various products, including makeup, skincare, clothing, pet toys, and school supplies. The company brings in about $100 million annually, according to business website Capitalism.com.
Fresha's survey reports the brand has 6.1 million Instagram followers and 413 million annual views on TikTok. The brand averages 105,200 searches worldwide each month.
Supergoop is number seven on the list. One of the co-owners of the company is tennis star Maria Sharapova. The brand originally marketed sunscreen but now offers cruelty-free makeup, skincare, and hair products.
According to information website Zoominfo, Supergoop's annual revenue is about $43.3 million. Fresha reports the brand has 656,348 followers on Instagram, 264 million views on TikTok, and garners 198,000 searches.
Singer-actress Lady Gaga launched her beauty brand Haus Labs in 2018. This brand features vegan, cruelty-free makeup. Fashion website Shift London reports Haus Labs' 2020 revenue was $141 million.
Fresha's numbers show Haus Labs has 339 million views on TikTok, with 1 million followers on Instagram. The brand averages 69,700 searches every month.
Model Hailey Bieber founded the Rhode brand, which is in ninth place on the popularity list. The brand features vegan, cruelty-free skincare products. Rhode was founded in 2022 and has a revenue of about $5 million, according to Zoominfo.
Rhode has seen about 427 million views on TikTok and 782,000 Instagram followers. It averages 113,000 searches per month.
Actress Gwyneth Paltrow's company, Goop, rounds out the top 10 on Fresha's popularity list. Founded in 2008, the brand sells makeup, skincare, supplements and other products. The company revenue was about $18 million in 2022, according to statistics website Zippia.
With a monthly search average of 145,000, the company has 1.8 million followers on Instagram and 108 million yearly views on TikTok.
Fresha CEO Zeqiri says, “Knowing which brands to invest in can be difficult when so many are currently out there.” Beauty brands are good investments for celebrities since consumers are clearly interested in using A-lister branded products.
This article was produced by Media Decision and syndicated by Wealth of Geeks.