From celebrity-fronted runway shows to Rihanna, the beauty brands with the boldest ambitions cut through the noise on social media in 2024. And while engagement with mega-influencers may be waning, they are still the sure-fire way to generate buzz around big moments.
We broke down the data from two analytics firms, Launchmetrics and Lefty, to find out which beauty brands won on social media this year, and which large-scale influencers are still resonating.
The top five
L’Oréal Paris created the biggest social media buzz in 2024, according to Launchmetrics’s report, which calculates a brand’s media impact value (MIV) by assigning monetary value to engagement with social content (taking followers, comments, likes and shares into account). It found that L’Oréal has garnered $1.14 billion in MIV this year to date, up 38 per cent on 2023 and knocking Dior Beauty from the top spot. This is largely thanks to the celebrities and influencers that flocked to L’Oréal’s Paris Fashion Week Spring/Summer 2025 runway show in September, which featured ambassadors such as Kendall Jenner, Alia Bhatt and Viola Davis, drawing in 3,000 guests.
Dior Beauty came in second following the announcement of Rihanna as the face of its J’adore fragrance in June, which accounted for $8.5 million of the brand’s total MIV for the year ($1.1 billion). Dior topped the list in 2023 thanks to splashy moments such as actor Anya-Taylor Joy posing as the face of its Mitzah makeup and holiday collection as well as its Christmas takeover of Harrods. This year, alongside announcing Rihanna’s ambassadorship, the brand focused its efforts on South Korean celebrities — especially Blackpink star Jisoo, singer and actor Cha Eun-Woo, and actor Han So-hee — helping cement its presence in the growing Chinese and South Korean markets.
Mac Cosmetics placed third, dropping from second in 2023, with an MIV of $992.1 million. The brand doubled down on makeup artistry, trend-driven content and co-creator partnerships this year to “strengthen its social share of voice”, says Aïda Moudachirou-Rébois, SVP and global general manager at Mac. She points to Mac’s celebration of its 40th anniversary and the launch of its Macximal silky matte lipstick as standouts. “We hacked New York Fashion Week with a playful stunt anchored in the Y2K and dupe trends on TikTok. For it, we partnered with Paris Hilton, the queen of Y2K, and celebrity gossip account @DeuxMoi to create a paparazzi-style shoot wearing the new lipstick.” This was swiftly followed by a fashion week afterparty hosting 150 influencers and celebrities including Patrick Ta, Meredith Duxbury, Central Cee and Alex Consani. The brand also leaned into internet chat and culture, including the “very demure, very mindful” trend earlier this year, helping to extend its reach on platforms like TikTok.
Charlotte Tilbury came in fourth with $905.5 million MIV thanks to its mixing of celebrity and influencer star power with user-generated content from its community, across cultural moments, product launches and other key events. Buzzy moments include the brand’s makeup artistry for singer Tyla at the BET Awards, Cynthia Erivo at the Los Angeles Wicked premiere, Celine Dion’s Paris Olympics opening ceremony performance and Sarah Jessica Parker at the Met Gala. It collaborated with influencers like Dhivya Sri, Mikayla Nogueira and Janelle Zharmenova on content ranging from GRWM videos to tutorials and product reviews across its fragrance, makeup and skincare portfolio, while some of the video content of its newest launches (like its Skin Island Glow Lips Cheek launch in July) featured fans of the brand. Charlotte Tilbury’s recent partnership with Formula One also fuelled social momentum.
L’Oréal Group-owned Maybelline’s 2024 relaunch of its ‘Maybe its Maybelline’ slogan — which pulled in over 6.3 million views on TikTok thanks to a celebrity-packed line-up featuring Gigi Hadid, actor Shay Mitchell and DJ Peggy Gou — earned fifth place, generating $900.2 million in MIV, up 31 per cent compared with 2023.
“This year, the leading beauty brands continue to prioritise strategic influencer activations, diversifying a mix of voices from top-tier influencers who deliver impact comparable to celebrities, to smaller creators that can perfectly build a brand’s trust among communities, with Instagram and TikTok as core platforms for impactful content,” says Launchmetrics CMO Alison Bringé. “Striking the perfect balance is key,” she says, adding that the ongoing challenge lies in curating an ambassador line-up that resonates with consumers globally, while authentically reflecting what a brand stands for.
Winning influencer strategies
Lefty analyses the influencer reach of beauty brand campaigns in terms of earned media value (EMV) by assigning a monetary value to the buzz influencers create for a brand. (It analyses the impressions and engagement generated by Instagram posts from influencers with over 10,000 followers, calculating it as $1 per like.) In line with the Launchmetrics data, Lefty found that L’Oreal’s ‘Walk Your Worth’ campaign, which ran alongside the Paris runway show, took the number one spot — generating 1,069 posts from influencers, 871 million impressions and $58.8 million in EMV. Its top three influencer voices were Brazilian actor and singer Larissa Manoela, Kendall Jenner and actor Alia Bhatt.
Kylie Cosmetics’s Cosmic perfume campaign — which ran in March on Instagram and TikTok, starring the brand’s founder Kylie Jenner — came in second with 303 posts, 319 million impressions and $4.7 million in EMV. Its top three voices were Jenner herself, her mother Kris and beauty influencer @Christxiee.
In third place was Balmain’s August fragrance launch, featuring actor and singer Dove Cameron, which resulted in 244 posts, 24.8 million impressions and $2.4 million in EMV. Its top three voices were South Korean singer Kim Hong Joong and influencers Julia Hussein and Yusur Al-Khalidi.
Meanwhile, Lefty’s ranking of the top beauty influencers of 2024 found that those with their own brands made the biggest impact. Rhode founder Hailey Bieber, who took first place this year, accumulated $400 billion in EMV, up 519 per cent from 2023, and an average engagement rate of 3.75 per cent, tracking higher than the industry average of 3.6 per cent. Rhode balances “its expert integration of trends and aesthetics to drive buzz around its skincare and makeup line with Bieber’s direct and authentic online connection, adding a personal touch to her content that further strengthens the brand’s bond with its audience on social media”, says Thomas Rankin, co-founder and CEO of social media management platform Dash Hudson.
Ariana Grande, Kylie Jenner, Selena Gomez and Rihanna also topped the ranking thanks to their beauty businesses. “These brands benefit from a built-in fan base, but their success lies in their ability to connect and entertain their communities,” says Archibald.
Gen Alpha gets louder
In 2024, tweens became a louder voice on social media, totalling $15.5 million in MIV this year, up from $2.7 million MIV in 2023.
Beauty retailer Sephora and skincare brand Drunk Elephant were the top companies mentioned among Gen Alpha, according to Launchmetrics. Sephora’s ability to blend product accessibility with its more affordable mini product offering, aspirational branding and strong social media presence from influencers and customers alike — sharing their hauls, bathroom ‘shelfies’ and tutorials based on products from its beauty aisles — heavily influenced the young, digitally native consumer.
For Drunk Elephant, its bright and appealing aesthetic coupled with the marketing messaging that it is safe for all skin types made the brand a cult buy among Gen Alpha in 2024. “Drunk Elephant’s success this year, intentional or not, shows just how tuned in and eager this generation is to enter the beauty market,” says Bringé. “With social media being Gen Alpha’s go-to channel for discovering new products, brands that craft strong content or develop made-for-content products, will lay the foundation for long-term success.”
However, the rise of Gen Alpha’s engagement on social media has prompted concern. In the US, at least 15 states have enacted legislation restricting children’s access to platforms like Instagram, while some (such as Florida) are issuing a ban on phones during class time. France is pushing to renew its national bill to keep those aged 15 and under off social media. The Australian government banned children under 16 from using social media in its efforts to protect young people from harm. More recently, TikTok banned anyone under 18 from using filters that change or enhance their features — effective from the end of 2024.
Brands should tread carefully when engaging with Gen Alpha online and focus on innovative and playful campaigns, experts say. For example, beauty brand Elf Cosmetics leverages humour in its social campaigns like its tongue-in-cheek ‘Elf drops in the wild’, or uses its Roblox virtual gaming experience and turns it into a playful product giveaway to engage its younger audiences. Skincare brand Bubble Skincare generates content around the interests of Gen Alpha, including sleepovers and tween influencer routines.
US retailer Ulta Beauty took its ‘House of Joy’ interactive Roblox shopping experience — where shoppers could interact with brands including Bubble Skincare and Too Faced — and shared it on TikTok as a way to bridge the two worlds, attend virtual beauty salons and compete in beauty contests. “This way, we’re helping younger generations discover beauty in a fun and guided way,” says Michelle Crossan-Matos, CMO at Ulta. For brands overall, Bringé says, “responsible strategies are paramount”.
To navigate the fast-changing social landscape, beauty brands need creative, multi-faceted strategies, says Bringé. She adds: “With 2024 marking a breakout year for Gen Alpha in beauty, now is the time for brands to focus on building early connections with this audience, setting the stage for long-term success.”
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