How The Creator Economy Transformed The Beauty Industry
By now, we’ve all established and accepted that without social media, it’s difficult, if not impossible, to get the word out about a brand. I remember pitching the power of social media to brands between 2017 and 2020. Back then, many didn’t see its relevance. Now, you're hardly a company of significance without it.
With a background in advertising, working across major agencies in London and Manchester, I was often tasked with translating the language of adland to young creatives, helping them unearth their talent and turn insights into ideas. Even then, it was clear: the young and gifted were the ones who truly understood how to apply creativity with brands in mind to reach people in meaningful, culturally rich ways. Back in 2018, using channels like TV and radio was the standard, and while those formats had reach, I was always more interested in what those insights could become in the hands of social-native thinkers. Fast forward, and that same generation, now known as Gen Z, has positioned itself at the centre of the creator economy.
Gen Z’s proximity to creativity has sparked an intergenerational shift, especially with TikTok encouraging people to explore content creation in new formats. After all, YouTube emerged just as millennials were coming of age, experimenting with storytelling, testing formats, and using technology to blur geographical lines.
The rise of digital has made sharing and exchanging lifestyles more accessible than ever, and along the way, beauty has found its place. Beauty, like fashion, is inherently intergenerational. What used to be a quiet ritual behind the bathroom door is now a highly visible act of identity and care, where social media has become the mirror, marketplace, and movement all at once.
But with the inevitability of the last scoop comes a bigger question: where does the beauty industry stand today, how has the creator economy shaped it, and what role is sport playing in driving innovation?
Innovation is human nature’s calling, especially for those of us on the outside looking in.
In recent years, we’ve seen a rise in influencer, celebrity, expert and dermatologist-owned beauty brands. Public figures are monetising their audiences, while dermatologists are monetising their expertise. And let’s be honest, beauty brands have content creators and social media platforms to thank for most of their visibility and growth. The creator economy has reshaped not only how beauty is marketed, but how it’s made.
Just look at who’s dominating shelves and screens:
Earned Media is The Engine
Each of these brands has been built with the creator at the core, making up the founder story or the content that generates engagement to boost credibility and sales, and in most of the cases above, they’ve achieved mainstream success without relying on traditional advertising. That’s the shift.
During my time at startup Kolsquare, where I mastered influencer marketing, I was introduced to a key metric: Earned Media Value (EMV). It measures the value of organic content created about a brand by people not paid or employed by the brand. That includes influencer posts, user-generated content, reviews, unpaid PR mentions — anything that spreads because people genuinely care. This type of content is pure gold. It’s social proof. It’s what drives trust, relevance, and recognition, and most importantly, it can’t be faked. What used to be seen as extra or nice-to-have is now the main driver. Community-led storytelling is more powerful than ever. Here’s the official definition of Earned Media Value.
“Earned media is content created organically about a brand by people who are not associated with the brand. This content is not [necessarily] paid for or developed internally. Consumers value earned media because it is genuine and credible. Therefore, it is highly advantageous as social proof for brands.
What is an example of earned media?
Types of earned media include:
- Reviews
- Organically created influencer posts
- Unpaid coverage generated by third parties like journalists
- User-generated content on social media”
The Playing Field Is More Level Than You Think
So what does this all mean? It means that beauty no longer belongs to a select few. The lines have blurred between expert and amateur, brand and community, campaign and conversation. Every day creators, niche voices, and micro-communities are building real influence, without needing millions of followers.
Platforms like TikTok have become ecosystems of identity, creativity, and self-expression. And contrary to what agencies and legacy brands might still believe, you don’t need to go viral to win. Micro-communities thrive on TikTok. From "clean girl" skincare routines to makeup tips for dark skin with hyperpigmentation, these smaller circles carry weight and drive conversions especially when it comes to beauty.
But some companies are still dying to the power of TikTok. Some founders are being sold on the idea that flooding the platform with dozens of creators is the best way to eat into this TikTok attention and that it will automatically translate into sales. It’s a model that often overpromises and underdelivers, and in some cases, it’s costing brands more than just budget.
Most recently, Ami Colé, a beautiful brand created with deeper skin tones in mind, announced its closure. Founded by Diarrha N’Diaye-Mbaye, who proudly draws from her Senegalese heritage and Harlem roots, the brand came to fame by putting Black women at the centre of its story. But in September 2025, Ami Colé will shut down completely, including its presence at Sephora, Thirteen Lune, and its own site, www.amicole.com.
The founder released a set of interviews prior to the announcement, and in one of them, she shared that “every [retail] dollar is more money that you have to get in more customers.” TikTok is used as a discovery tool, but while consumers are discovering her brand through earned media, they’re also discovering other beauty brands in her category. And by category, that means brands catering to the clean beauty or shade-matching aesthetic, where names like REFY, Rhode, and Danessa Myricks, to name a few, become direct competitors.
In her departure article via The Cut, she shared that “One week we’d be completely sold out because an influencer mentioned us; the next, we’d be stuck with inventory we couldn’t move.” That, coupled with the high cost of acquiring new customers and nurturing existing ones, paints a clearer picture of the challenges.
So, I obsessively dug into Ami Colé’s marketing channels and conducted a mini-audit, including all press mentions, to reverse-engineer its exit from the beauty space. It led me back to a narrative I hear constantly in brand and founder circles, and one that the founder herself said was sold to her: that TikTok equals virality.
It’s an easy idea to latch onto. It looks good in pitch decks. It helps justify mass spend on influencer marketing. It gives internal teams a neat, confident way to push for big investments on TikTok. But as someone who sits at the intersection of talent management and social media marketing, I think we need to be more precise, so that spend aligns with the right expectations.
Typically, virality is seen as content hitting anywhere from 500K to 1 million views. But there’s a pocket of TikTok that doesn’t chase virality and yet delivers something even more valuable: steady, engaged growth that stems from relatable, contextual, and creative content.
If a brand page is consistently seeing view ranges like:
20K–90K
100K–300K
300K–500K
Or even slightly below, that’s not failure. That’s a signal. It likely means they’ve tapped into a loyal, recurring audience, especially if they’re building around a signature series or repeatable format. Don’t sleep on those numbers, ROI lives there. Brands like REFY and Rhode have mastered this sweet spot for beauty marketing. They blend humour, lifestyle, and aspiration to drive engagement, build community, and convert sales. And with only 10 SKUs, it’s clear Rhode’s method works. The brand was recently acquired by e.l.f. Beauty for $1.2 billion.
Where Do The Innovators Go?
Beauty brands are moving beyond social media trends and into real-world cultural moments. One of the most exciting (and overdue) frontiers? Women’s sports. As cross-category expansion becomes essential to long-term brand growth, beauty is tapping into the rise of women athletes, not just as consumers, but as influential storytellers. My hypothesis that athletes are becoming the next generation of beauty influencers is proving true. The evidence is in the partnerships.
Beauty brands are no longer just launching products; they're embedding themselves into teams, leagues, and training facilities, making IRL investments that go far beyond traditional sponsorships, and some recents include:
Glossier: League-wide Official Beauty Partner of the WNBA
Mielle Organics: Official Textured Hair-Care Partner of the WNBA
CoverGirl (Coty): Official Cosmetics Partner of the Chicago Sky
Urban Decay: Official Beauty Partner of the LA Sparks
Fenty Beauty/Fenty Skin: Team Beauty Partner of the New York Liberty
Sephora: Team Training Facility Partner of the Golden State Valkyries
Essie: Nail sponsor of the New York Liberty
Laneige: Partner of the Phoenix Mercury
Youth To The People: Sponsor of the Seattle Storm
Odele Beauty: Sponsor of the Minnesota Lynx
To be continued… 😉