I’ve recently gotten drawn into the hype of Rare Beauty, Selena Gomez’s beauty brand. Selena Gomez seems to have accomplished every career at this point: being the lead in the Disney Channel series Wizards of Waverly Place from 2007-2012, having 55 million monthly listeners for her music on Spotify, and now having her own line at Sephora. But Selena’s not the first celebrity to go into the makeup industry. The walls of Sephora and Ulta can now be found with many recognizable names and photos, amongst other faceless beauty brands.
A beloved celebrity’s name can hold a lot of weight in terms of a customer’s buying choices. According to Forbes, “celebrity-owned brands have a leg up when it comes to marketing initiatives because the general public is drawn to the familiarity of the celebrities’ likeness.” People are not only comfortable with the person but they trust them. Most of Gen Z has grown up watching Selena on their television, have listened to her music on their iPod touch, and now feel that familiarity when they see her photo next to a bronzer. That’s an irreplaceable tie that many beauty brands simply can’t replicate.
None of this is new in the beauty industry. It was seen in 2014 when Kylie Jenner first released her lip kits for Kylie Cosmetics. After Kylie Jenner proved her beauty brand’s power by becoming the world’s first self made billionaire, others are now following in her footsteps. The profits from Rihanna’s makeup line, Fenty Beauty, make up a large portion of Rihanna’s $1.7 billion net worth, according to Forbes. “By 2018, its first full calendar year, the line was bringing in more than $550 million in annual revenues, according to LVMH, beating out other celebrity-founded brands like Kylie Jenner’s Kylie Cosmetics, Kim Kardashian West’s KKW Beauty and Jessica Alba’s Honest Co.”
Don’t get me wrong, I like when celebrities venture out into different fields and try new things. In fact, I love Rare Beauty products. Just this past weekend I chose to buy a lip gloss from Selena’s brand. Clearly others do as well, since most of the shelves for her products were bare. I give her credit where it’s due, Selena created great products instead of just slapping her name on a handful of mediocre ones. Does that still mean every celebrity brand deserves its demand and spotlight? Probably not. Most well-liked celebrities know the chance of their beauty brand flopping is slim making it an easy cash grab.