Youtube saved my life. Yes, call me dramatic.
Youtube saved my life. Yes, call me dramatic, but I was literally choking on my incompetence as I stared at Krusty the clown in the mirror on prom night. You see, I had bought these products impulsively from the closest drugstore hoping my wits would see me through. Well, they only saw me through panic as I searched "Prom makeup tutorial" and saw a video from the OG YouTuber Marlena Stell, which saved the night (and my life, of course.)
Youtubers like Marlena Stell, Nikkie's Tutorials, and Michelle Phan birthed the emergence of beauty content on the app. The next few years witnessed a steady and rapid rise of beauty on YouTube, with the likes of Zoella, Bethany Mota, and Jackie Aina gracing the scene in 2009.
Back then, beauty creators were just interested in sharing hacks and tricks online with little care for money or video quality. The old digital cameras were doing it, and creators were just happy to be seen online. People turned to them to achieve celebrity looks and experiment with makeup.
Gradually, they began to grow a community that would make no beauty purchase until it had been approved or recommended by them. Makeup brands then used this power to appeal to the younger demographic, and beauty content became more about reviews than tutorials.
Experts like Statista report a more than 100% increase in views between 2008 and 2018. As of August 2018, campaign films generated more than one-third of views on the beauty side of YouTube. Since then, many beauty creators from the early days stopped posting, and the community is now ruled by beauty "mafias" like Jeffree Star, James Charles, and Jaclyn Hill.
It’s worth noting that veteran creators like Michelle Phan, referred to by some as the "world's first influencer," paved the way before her abrupt ten-year leave from Youtube.
In her "Why I Left" video, which has gathered up to 14 million views, she revealed that the constant pressure from the internet made her unhappy. She felt the fun was being sucked out of it with the need to constantly promote and push products, which was the same experience for some other creators.
One would think these creators would never bounce back when they decided to reappear on the scene. But quite the opposite, these channels continue to skyrocket even after a long period of silence.
Zoella's new YouTube channel reached almost 5 million subscribers a few years after she abandoned her old channel. Michelle Phan is arguably almost more famous for leaving the internet. She’s accrued millions of dollars in the beauty space and continues to post videos with a broad reach.
It seems these creators were able to make a comeback because of the current high demand for beauty related videos. Statista reports a rise in the annual views of beauty related content from 59 billion in 2017 to 104 billion in 2018. The pandemic also had subscribers glued to their screens with the dramageddon in the beauty community and more people turning to Youtube for entertainment. Beauty influencers have also pushed brands towards sustainable beauty and inclusivity, transforming the sector. The community continues to evolve, and we don't see this stopping anytime soon.