The unique struggle of influencer beauty brands 

Quality content. As a product marketing manager, this is an excellent analysis of the influencer marketing skincare brands. Thanks so much! I’ll continue supporting.

another reason why hyram's skincare line failed is because he started getting flack for not having any credentials to make the claims that he did on his videos, losing the public's favor.

I don't buy from influencer brands. I honestly don't even watch reviews much anymore just because people lie so much for money. I just find something that interests me and read customer reviews. That's good enough now.

Glossier, Huda, Michelle. They ALL have one thing in common. They're grown! They had an actual vision. A dream. A plan. An execution. They created themselves. They put in the work. They did everything and hustled on their own to get where they are. These tiktok kids were handed this "platform" on a silver platter. They were approached by established brands for partnerships and collabs. Tiktokers were literally children in high school that copied other people's dance moves for ten seconds. Michelle had been in RU-vid for years. She promoted herself. Which blossomed into her brand. Same with Huda and glossier. And! They're still here going very strong! They're the brains and heart. That's the difference.

One of the successful examples would be SimplyNailogical. However she doesn’t really fit in this discourse - the integrity, hard work, smarts and genuine love for nail polish made the brand Holo Taco seem like a legit business, not like a way to make a bit more cash.

I never bought an influencer brand in my life. To me, 99% are just cash grabs.

I think a lot of problems are caused by how over saturated the 'influencer' make-up industry became. I hope that consumers are getting wiser to the shady marketing techniques. One thing I find really annoying is when a company claims to be 'clean beauty'. There is no definition for 'clean' so it means absolutely nothing. Company's jumping on the bandwagon and greenwashing is such a cynical marketing ploy. This was really interesting, have a great day.

I agree with the analysis on Hyram, when he launched his skincare line was the time that aestheticians, dermatologists, skincare chemists and all other skincare science experts came to the surface and became more popular. Besides the fact that people are no longer trusting of influencer brands.

i remember watching a video somewhere on here that talked about how 1 million youtube subscribers and 1 million tiktok followers are VERY different.. on tiktok you can follow someone and never see their videos again, the engagement is soooo different. whereas to have 1 million on youtube that is a much more dedicated audience? so it honestly doesn't surprise me (knowing nothing about hyram) that his brand flopped. 7 million sounds like a lot but it probably doesn't equate to as much of an audience as we may think it does

Okay but you need room for the applicator. This doesnt mean they are underfilling to be cheap. The tube is oversized and is measured by volume/weight of the liquid inside, not size of the tube.

I love the data mining for holes in the industry when the products are all completely typical and found under every other brand. The over saturation in beauty is insane

dang, i always thought it would be a good idea for hyram to have his own skincare line but i never even heard of selfless. maybe the marketing sucked bc honestly that's something i would consider buying

The girl who said she just took out the doefoot applicator and complained how much product is left doesnt know how packaging works.

The overwhelming amount of these brands hitting the market made me think of all the Y2K perfume launches but worse. There was WAY too much product and dependence on it selling because of them being popular people and not because the products were that good, innovative, etc. Not to mention these influencers are always involved in “drama.”

I love your channels name! And the fact you deep dive into PMF (product market fit) is so engaging! You hit the nail on the head that the moat between one product and another is razor thin, which is the core reason influencer brands are short-lived. There is little product differentiation and this is a no - no for smart consumers who do lots of research before purchasing.

I think the drama surrounding RU-vidrs and TikTok influencers as well has turned off Gen Z and Millenial consumers. We want the focus on the products, not on the influencer/the drama surrounding them. It's why Jefree hasn't been able to bring his brand back to the forefront.

I think morphe had a good run. Everyone had their eye palettes back in 17-18....it's just their image is not up to date...people now prefer motre lightweight/ less makeup looks where their items are still full face makeup kinda looks

i’m not super interested in business, marketing, economics etc but you and underskin, make this type of content so interesting and informative by tailoring it to the beauty and fashion spaces. keep up the fantastic work! ❤

Regarding glossier I don’t know how they’re gonna get any bigger when they don’t even listen to their customers. Doing the opposite of what the costumers want now.

I was just recently at Winners and I have seen Selfless by Hyram. I wasn’t shocked after seeing the Sephora news but I was still a bit surprised and it was really marked down too

I wouldn’t say Hyrams skincare line failed, it’s just gone to target, and given the inky lists price - that makes a lot more sense.

I have never heard of Hyram. However, who would name a skin care line Selfless?? The point is to work on one’s self, using the product to better oneself. No wonder it failed, the name is awful.

Wow, that bit about the Ipsy data mining was very interesting! The whole video was interesting actually, keep up the good work 👍👍👍 And you're definitely right about the trend cycles. This is not only true about products and aesthetics/vibes, but people as well. Everyone who's online, especially Gen Z and Millennials, has developed extremely short attention spans. So even if they like an influencer, they may not be a loyal follower/ consumer for long; they'll jump to the next thing the moment they're bored. Add to that the fact that many of these influencers get themselves cancelled (usually for good reasons) every second week, and you understand. Even the not-influencers are on the same trajectory. Fenty and Rare may be popular now but with oversaturarion, inflation, and changing consumer habits, they're far from safe. And because for better or worse their brand name is connected to a celebrity, if that celebrity missteps, they're going down as well.

Fenty Beauty is named after Rihanna though. Her full name is Robyn Rihanna Fenty

In my personal case (and maybe this is a generalized perspective) I wouldn't buy from influencer brands because I feel like they lack in quality and are purely made to target one specific audience, that is the people who follow the influencer, without giving any extraordinary benefits to their products. This is why I trust reputed brands that have been on the market for many years and obviously developed continually rather that a ghost-like company who sells products made over night.

Over saturated and over priced low quality skincare and makeup

Unrelated, but that’s by far one of the coolest channel names I’ve ever seen! I know without even having watched the video, that this is gonna be good! ❤

07:19 actually Michelle young first brand em cosmetics was patner ship with L'Oréal Paris and she brought full share from loreal and re branding as clean make up beauty with korean style i gues

Just finished watching. You will do super well with your channel! It’s the magic combo of quality, content and personality which always always succeeds! Very excited for you! Keep up the amazing work! ❤

I love the idea of a data oriented channel with fantastic writing and delivery! Subscribed! Thanks 😊

In my eyes it's so nice to see those successful brands survive and last. It's proof that actual business is BUSINESS and not a cash grab

this is such a good video i can’t believe you only have 200 subscribers!! i hope this channel goes well :) just keep going and don’t give up!

Too many choices ,everytime you turn around someone is launching a skin care line 🥴 Keep it simple Pick some affordable make up at CVS , skin care stick with cereve , cetaphil , neutrogena , Shea moisture , laroche posey etc

omg i cant beleive ur a new channel, this is good content!

Great first video! I can definitely see this channel growing

For the "mere mortal" this is all they need. For some one like Hyram and Charlie, they don't need a 10 year beauty career. Just having one - ONE - massive launch is more than one average worker and videographer can hope for. That's all you need to gain exposure and put your name on the map. Longevity is a different matter. Rihanna, as young as she is, had a 10 year career in the spotlight before launching her beauty career, which is actually in partnership with a giant company.

This is so well made! I cant believe you have less than 1K. Ur gonna blow up soon, I know it ❤

Just watched all three of your videos! They are so informative and fun! Glossier is actually a pretty interesting case study as well. It was huge back in 2015/16 because it offered direct-to-consumer minimalism when everyone was tired of the makeup overconsumption where we had to buy 100000 makeup products to look put together. I'd argue it set the stage for American consumers to welcome skincare-focused k-beauty not too long after(summer 2018). Also glossier influenced the aesthetic of beauty--light pink, neutrals, marble, big airy spaces, lots of soft light. They've had a significant fall from grace since then, however. After employees came forward about racism in the company, it really struggled to address the issue and rally. This, in addition launching items incongruous with its "natural" brand (sparkly eyeliner?), declining product quality, focus on merch rather than beauty products, and resignation of its CEO, means glossier is on the outs. I think a better comparison to Huda's success are Pat McGrath or Patrick Ta, who were both established makeup artists prior to launching their own brands. They both found a niche in the luxury beauty industry while delivering consistency and quality. Anyway, really enjoyed this a lot. I studied law and the business content is adjacent to what we learn in business associations, so that makes it extra fun. Thank you for the quality niche content, I subscribed!

I went to binge ur videos but this is ur first one!!! Ugh!!! Can’t wait for new ones though

Fenty is literally Rihanna’s last name.

i had no idea this was your first video ??! so impressive i had to subscribe!!

you really deserve more subs cause this is fantastic analysis using real data 👏 love to see it!

Im delighted to say I've never heard of Addison Rae until now! Splendid video!

Hyram’s brand is in all the dollar (pound) shops in the UK😳 better for us now we can buy them super cheap. Got his retinol for £1.50

Great video - really insightful. Just some feedback - the volume levels kept fluctuating from really quiet to really loud so I kept having to adjust the volume. Would be great to equalise the sound or something before upload in future. Hope that's okay to point out!

One big reason a lot of these brands fail is b/c often the products simply aren't very good. People realize there's no need to spend the extra money on one brand when a cheaper one is much better. A lot of these influencers don't even have anything to do with the actual products either, they just slap their names on them and expect that to be enough. They know their fans will rush out to buy the products but word travels fast nowadays- if something sucks, it doesn't take long for everyone to know and then sales dry up. Oversaturation is a big reason too, there's simply no need for dozens of different brands of matte nude lipsticks. You better be offering an incredible formula or very unique colors if you want to stay relevant. Yet another reason is that people's trust in influencers is at an all-time low. So many of them have been caught lying, falsely advertising product results, or just being outright terrible people when they think no one's looking, so when a new influencer brand pops up people just don't get excited anymore.

I would love to see an analysis on why celebrity brands are thriving whereas influencer brands are flopping!

Easy come, easy go. If you become popular in what looks like the blink of an eye, chances are you’re just a trend and the hot new influencer to watch. That can easily crumble within years or even months as trends cycle so quickly nowadays. edit; oh wow, just finished the video, we said the exact same thing! haha

54k views on your first video is crazy!! I went to binge your content and was so surprised this is your first one

I think the video is great but you should mind the audio levels next time because some videos are a smidge too loud compared to your voice (in most of the video, some recorded voice clips are a different volume)

Jackie Aina’s candles are 70% off at Sephora too. 😕

I buy Krave Beauty, youtuber Liah Yoo, started this company. Pretty sure I was routed there by a skinfluencer, either Hyram or James Welsh. That stuff is amazing though. I’m very influenced.

The thing with influencers brands is, yall personalities are only make up and skincare? it seems like that's what everybody is doing and is not special anymore, and also are they a chemist? why would I trust a brand made by someone who build their platform on doing dances? sell me something else, something related with the thing that made you famous, all of this brands lack of personality on their own... for example rare beauty is not only Selena, it is a brand made to make u feel comfortable with your own kind of beauty, the same with Fendi, Rihanna scared the whole industry making foundation for all shades of black

I think one of reasons as to why Huda and other influencers had huge success is because they, as people, weren't well known. Their brands might've been well-known but they didn't have an Internet personality. Like, I didnt even know who Huda was back then, but I knew the brand. People didn't have a strong parasocial relationship and opinions on them. Plus, they started out earlyyyy. While people like Addison, Hyram started out late and we were all catching up on influencer cashgrab BS. Plus Hyram and Addison are very well known figures on the Internet with people sharing various opinions and feelings about them. Addison is an open Trump supporter, while Hyram was exposed for a lot of undisclosed brand deals. I think its a matter of time and people's relationship w the influencer. The influencer brand market, and cosmetics industry in general is soooo saturated now. We're tired of influencer brands now, ut we weren't even aware of them when Huda started out.

Actually Hyram's brand didn't fail. It's too early to tell if it will but it's moving to target and they're lowering their price points. I think it'll be much better at target, because his younger demographic would have more access to the products there.

There are way too many cosmetic brands these days. Way too many. Ditto with skincare.

Hyram has been on RU-vid for much longer than he has been on Tiktok. He was big on YT before even Tiktok was created. That said, I think he is kind of overrated.

great video, im interested in seeing more! 😁

I bought the sbh salicylic acid and sea kelp spot treatment in tk maxx,for only 9€ (that's like $9)Not wanting to pay the original price.

Tik toks audience is not loyal like RU-vids. Tik tok is all about the next best thing and youtubers have an audience who tune up with them at a specific day over and over creating a long and stronger parasocial relationship, which increases the probability of said audience buying a product under a youtubers name.

Till 2020, Star's make-up line have been hugely successful. Partially bacause he was very popular, but also because his products have been quite unique on the market. His downfall is mostly on his persona - people finally hold him accountable for his cruel behaviour towards POC or for his fatphobia. But what also happened is him loosing the concept of what is trendy right now, still producing big, bulky, monochromatic pallettes as if we were still in 2019. He stopped to even follow trends, let alone to create ones. It's not what make-up looks anymore. The quality of his products have been out standing in 2018, but it's not anymore. So there is literally no point in buying his make-up other than being his fan.

as not a gen z, most of these have no reason for them to exist. there is not 'gap in market' with bad and old data. The market is flooded with same products so yes back then there was gaps but now its all filled. What they should focus is problem solving and even then, should accept that each problem will not have as many people vs just generic mass appeal.

For 2 years I stopped buying makeup because I was in quarantine with the rest of America. Then in 2021 the natural look was the rage so there was no need for sparkly shadows and highly pigmented makeup by the time the world reopened in 2022. I still haven’t purchased more makeup outside mascara.

I would love to see visuals of the data showing these trends with breakpoints in the timeline of when interest fell off and then products launched. If possible

This is so well done

Congrats on uploading your first video! Can't wait to see what's next

Subscribed! Thanks for the fascinating high quality video!

Hyram got the deal with Target later.

this channel is so cool! i would j like to ask are you a business student/have studied business? also is all your content going to be centred around celebrity brands or just popular brands in general? ty!

Huda and Glossier have been able to appeal to global audiences! The products are quality and diverse. These influencers also catered to global audiences long time before the launch.. Loved hyram but he just knows one demographic and that’s it

Y’all didnt have to use that photo of jeffree ☠️

Huda and glossier survived because there was less online product cancel culture back then

We research because we can't afford to waste money on products that are crap.

I don't buy influencers products but I do enjoy hyram's videos because his skincare tips and products I should buy have legit saved my skin. But I refuse to buy his stuff.

Absolutely love the idea behind this channel!

Hyrams products are too expensive for Target. I wanted to try one but choose Naturium instead.

I disagree that Hyram is an a TikToker. He rose to fame on YT first and then expanded to TikTok. The line is now sold at Target so not entirely a failure, more like a pivot. Not a fan of his, just stating facts.

Hello I feel like you can add some background music while you talk cause it makes the video interesting

Love the video! Keep on doing this kind of amazing content ✌️ Best regards from Austria 🇦🇹❤

Lol the worst pic of miss Jeffree star.

I wish they would drop the luxury brands instead and keep the dermatologist/influencer brands instead.

I was wondering what happened to Hyram’s skincare line….

The shade with using that pic for jeffree star💀

Very interested video. Well put together and super cool to see a more scientific take on fashion and make up.

I would definitely not class 22 dollar powder as affordable.

More videos! PLEASE 🙏

That must be the most unflattering picture of Jeffree Star ever

i think maybe a look at One/Size from Patrick Starr, would bc super interesting. Its a true influencer brand yet has truly been successful and slowly grown a cult following unlike most influencers brands. however the brand also doesn’t really focus on light makeup, clean beauty, or skin care. Instead, the brand focuses on full coverage, long wear, and inclusivity. Furthermore, Patrick Starr was never the largest influencer, the A list influencer like emma chamberlain or james charles (at one point lol). Would be a super interesting video!

good luck on the channel!!

This channel just started?? Wow, subbed to support!

At least Hyram's brand gives back to environmental & humanitarian charities with every purchase... That's more than most celebrities do...

I want to suggest that your introduction needs to be 20% max of the video, not 50%. thank you for the research.

Very good video !

I just love the name of your channel!

Very nice, informative and relaxing. Subbed 👍🤠

When hyrams skin care came out I got it but it just didnt do that well on my skin. I feel like my current routine is just way better. The products are fine but there way better ones out there

Yes please more content like this!!!

the pic u chose of jeffree pls

GREAT Work Great Vid!!!👌🏽✨💗

Wow, this channel is like Asianometry for fashion.