Rihanna, Pharrell Williams, Lady Gaga and now Beyoncé are no longer content to play muses. Celebrity brands are now flooding the cosmetics market. These rarely innovative products are designed to attract an established audience before even having tested them. Decryption.
That could have been the annoying question. So she went there French. In a video that quickly went viral, published during the launch of Haus Laboratories, her inclusive make-up line, Lady Gaga states it bluntly. “The last thing the world needs is a new beauty brand. Well too bad. » Admitted fault, half forgiven? In any case, celebrity brands are flooding an already completely saturated market without any ecological qualms. The stars thus move from the historic role of muse to that of entrepreneur. And if the phenomenon is not entirely new, it has taken on a completely different scale in less than five years.
This year, Beyoncé took the plunge with the launch of a hair care label: Cécred. Queen B, whose mother was a hairdresser, offers eight hair products inspired by the care rituals practiced in her own family. “I remember very well my mother who worked as a hairdresser at home,” the artist assured the magazine. Essence at the time of the release of its range on cecred.com. I have many memories attached to my hair. The relationship we have with our hair is deeply personal. These moments are sacred to me. »
Personal branding
These confidences which attest to his personal involvement in the development of his products as well as his sublime hair are to be seen as guarantees of credibility, essential to the success of such an enterprise. Even if the stars can count on fans who are a priori committed to their cause, that does not prevent them from being critical if the touted products do not keep their promises… Because this time, it is no longer just a question of lending their image to a luxury brand – as Rihanna still does for Dior’s J’Adore perfume. But to engage in personal branding.
Rihanna combines the uses of her image, being the muse for Dior’s J’Adore perfume while developing the Fenty Beauty brand
“Previously, celebrities like Céline Dion or Madonna would rather launch their perfume,” recalls Eric Briones, CEO of the Parisian strategic planning firm Dark Planning. It was makeup that then took over. The shift came from the meeting of Instagram influencers with a very reactive cosmetics industry, mainly located in California, capable of operating as a “white label”, in other words of offering correct but fairly basic products that people can then rebrand their liking. »
For a good cause
Following the path opened by Kim Kardashian and her half-sister Kylie Jennerwho both saw the American beauty giant Coty invest in their companies KKW Beauty and Kylie Cosmetics, stars whose “real” job is a priori to sing or make films have in turn chosen to launch themselves into adventure. As a trial run, Lady Gaga and Rihanna first created capsule collections for MAC while Victoria Beckham teamed up for the occasion with Estée Lauder. A sort of popularity test before directly committing their own funds to it. Or to benefit, like Rihanna, from the immediate financial support of the LVMH group, also owner of Dior or Louis Vuitton.
Consumers have the impression of adopting the codes and lifestyle of their idols.
“Celebrity brands in particular must be embodied and in this sense makeup has long been the perfect product,” continues Eric Briones. Its manufacturing does not require cutting-edge technology and consumers, often young people from generations Y and Z, have the impression of adopting the codes and lifestyle of their idols, who do not hesitate to pay for it personally. to promote and provide after-sales service. The model of the prescribing star is one of the most resilient there is from an economic point of view: the innovation that these women demonstrate – because apart from Pharrell Williams and Brad Pitt, men remain rare in this field – is seen above all at the marketing level, in their ability to interact with their fan base, to listen to them, to respond in a very agile way to their desires. »
A growing market
And it works, as these dizzying figures attest. According to a report from Nielsen IQ, one of the world’s leading market researchers, celebrity brands generated more than $1 billion in sales in 2023, a growth of 58% from the previous year. The system, however, has its limits: original creation rarely arises from the desires of the public, who are more often tempted to beg for what they already know.
It will therefore come as no surprise that all celebrity brand products are more or less similar: packaged in highly Instagrammable packaging, they often offer the same content. Whether it’s the color assortment of an eye shadow palette or a vitamin C serum, nothing really differs from the often cheaper offerings of traditional players in the sector. “What matters more than anything is the message,” continues our expert. Brands are now required to be engaged, even militant, to be desirable. Consuming almost becomes a political act. »
A star, a cause
From inclusiveness, spearheaded by Rihanna, we have moved since 2019, at Lady Gaga and Selena Gomez in particular, to a discourse centered on self-acceptance, on the denunciation of certain diktats that can lead to mental health problems. Each star has “their” cause in which their fans will recognize themselves. But beyond the ideals displayed, it is the market that dominates: pushed in the back by repeated confinements, sales of treatments have soared, leading our businesswomen to reposition themselves towards skincare. “The driving force of course remains money,” points out Eric Briones. Care is now at the heart of profitability and growth. So they go there. »
The stakes are indeed high: if make-up represents 19% of the overall beauty market worldwide, skincare flirts with 39%… Internal niches are also developing: after facial care , it’s the hair one that’s a hit. It’s no surprise then that we find Beyoncé and, closer to us, the influencer Gaëlle Garcia Diaz in this promising segment.
Taking care of your fans
“Even more than with makeup, with skincare, we can fully play the card of an inclusive and non-gendered product,” adds our analyst. Unlike fashion where we also found celebrities ten years ago, there are no sizes, almost no season: the products have a potentially much longer lifespan. The sale price is more affordable. And the margins are also higher. » The case of Fenty is the very demonstration of this: last February, just two years after its creation, the Barbadian singer’s clothing line was put on pause while the first cosmetics signed Fenty Skin arrived at Sephora a few weeks ago.
From 2019, many celebrities have gradually positioned themselves in the skincare niche such as Victoria Beckham, in collaboration with Augustinus Bader, “the” hype brand of the moment. Or Millie Bobby Brown with Florence by Mills. In the end, they were only rallying behind the pioneers that Gwyneth Paltrow and Jessica Alba were, now better known for Goop and Honest Beauty than for their acting careers…
Tops and flops
Since then, the launches have continued to accelerate: Jennifer Lopez with JLO Beauty, Pharrell Williams with Humanrace, Alicia Keys with Keys Soulcare have been joined by the Rhode ranges of Hailey Bieber and Haus Laboratories of Lady Gaga. With sometimes notorious flops like Brad Pitt’s Beau Domaine Skincare brand which never managed to convince anyone that he used his own products.
“This new positioning is not without risk,” recognizes Eric Briones. Because who says care, says scientific knowledge. In any case, some consumers will prefer to trust the opinion of a new Doctor Brandt. » The opinion of “skinfluencers”, these beauty gurus who have almost as many followers as these stars themselves, is also to be feared. Those who have been able to surround themselves well – the Kardashians can now count on the know-how of Coty, Rihanna on that of Kendo, the LVMH group’s cosmetic brand incubator – have a better chance of transforming the experiment. Because if a name can generate buzz and lead to a first purchase, the second will only be made if the quality and the promised results are there.
