In the past year, the global entertainment industry has seen many A-list celebrities turning to side hustles such as selling their own merchandise, or owning and letting properties in the K-drama industry. The same has been happening in the skincare and makeup department. The list starts from Gwyneth Paltrow who founded the wellness and living brand, Goop, in 2008, followed by Jessica Alba who co-founded The Honest Company in 2012.
Other celebrities that followed include Kylie Jenner who launched the legally-troubled Kylie Cosmetics in 2015, Rihanna who launched Fenty Beauty in 2017 to worldwide success, Kim Kardashian with KWW Beauty in 2017, Lady Gaga’s makeup brand, Haus Laboratories in July 2019, and Victoria Beckham Beauty in September 2019. And the list goes on.
This year, we saw Selena Gomez’s Rare Beauty launch in July, and most recently Rosie Huntington-Whiteley unveiled Rose Inc in August. Ready to compare these celebrity-owned beauty and wellness brands? Let’s read on:
Goop was founded in 2008 by actress Gwyneth Paltrow who was 36 years old back then. Although Paltrow initially started goop as a recipe and food newsletter, it slowly grew into a business empire when she released her cookbooks, supplements such as vitamins, clothes, and eventually skincare in 2016.
Goop stocks skincare? Yup, a little known fact is this – aside from cookbooks and sexual wellness devices, Paltrow sells skincare, makeup, and even haircare products on her website too. However, her strict skincare beliefs and hefty price tags meant that her skincare products were met with lots of hostility from the press and public when it first launched in 2016.
As with all things Gwyneth Paltrow and Goop, her skincare range was a divisive one – you either love it or hate it. Some of goop’s best-selling skincare products include:
- Microderm Instant Glow Exfoliator (US$125): A paste-like scrub plus acids exfoliating face mask
- Morning Skin Superpowder (US$60): 30 sachets of antioxidants and nutrients to support your skin’s health. Yup, this is an orange-y supplement drink
- All-in-One Nourishing Face Cream (US$95): An all-over, universal face cream for the skincare minimalist
- 15% Glycolic Acid Overnight Glow Peel (US$125): Individually packed cotton pads soaked with (really strong) acids to exfoliate your skin. 15 per cent glycolic acid is pretty hardcore. If you’re new to acids (or you don’t use sunscreen fervently), please avoid
Remember Jessica Alba from the 2005 movie, Fantastic Four, the 2010 rom-com with Bradley Cooper called Valentine’s Day, or the 2010 Ben Stiller comedy, Little Fockers? Jessica Alba actually has her own side hustle, a beauty, home, and children business called The Honest Company. Alba co-founded the company with partners including an American entrepreneur in 2011. In 2016, her company saw its IPO (initial public offering) and is now traded on New York’s NASDAQ (HNST). Still doesn’t ring a bell?
If you frequent iHerb in Singapore, then you would definitely have come across many of Alba’s products such as:
- Purely Sensitive, Face + Body Lotion ($11.99): An all-in-one lotion for sensitive skin types
- Plant-Based Wipes, Rose Blossom ($5.36): A pack of multipurpose 72 hypoallergenic wipes for the face and body
- Truly Calming Shampoo + Body Wash, Lavender ($8.99): Gentle head-to-toe wash that lightly foams and cleanses well (plus a great, lovely lavender scent that fills the bathroom)
- Honest Diapers of varying sizes ($12.74 for 32 pieces): Plant-based, animal cruelty-free, and hypoallergenic disposable baby to toddler diapers of varying sizes
- Calm Your Nip Balm, Unscented ($13.49): Nursing nipple balm for breastfeeding mothers
Who would ever forget the massive hype that swept across the global Kardashian fandom in 2015 when the then 17-year-old reality TV star, Kylie Jenner, announced she was launching her very own series of lip kits consisting of lip liners and megawatt high shine gloss? Kardashian fans snapped up these kits in hopes of emulating Jenner’s signature look – her plump, luscious lips.
Shortly after, the brand was called out for promoting unhealthy body image as the trend for plumping lips artificially took off as a dangerous challenge amongst tweens and teenagers.
Later, in 2019, Kylie Cosmetics was once again caught in yet another unsavoury saga when Forbes listed Kylie Jenner as a “self-made billionaire” thanks to her cosmetics brand. Later, it was revealed that Jenner inflated her business’ net worth, and was promptly removed from Forbes’ self-made list. The brand went quiet since and recently made a relaunch in Jul 2021 with a heartfelt YouTube video by Kylie herself and her mother, Kris Jenner, recounting the struggles Kylie went through in her coming-of-age years – and how makeup came as a natural answer to her.
Rihanna’s heavyweight Fenty Beauty launched globally in September 2017. In Singapore, the launch date was marked by a massive crowd and queue that formed outside Sephora ION Orchard. A year later, Rihanna herself made a surprise appearance at Sephora ION to celebrate the first year anniversary of her brand – an overcrowding incident that may remain unrivalled through ION Orchard’s history books.
Rihanna’s Fenty Beauty makeup line has earned itself many accolades throughout the years, most notably her push (by example) for a diverse and inclusive foundation shade range. She was one of the first to launch a 40-shade skin tone range – an idea that seemed so uneconomical by industry standards at that time. Since then, many global and independent makeup brands have followed in Rihanna’s footsteps for inclusivity.
In 2020, Rihanna followed up with a hotly-anticipated Fenty Skin skincare range launch.
After releasing her namesake album, Joanne, in 2016, Lady Gaga went on a hiatus for years. Throughout that period, she shared that she was struggling with an illness known as fibromyalgia which causes widespread, crippling pain all over her body. So, when news broke in 2019 that Lady Gaga was soon dropping her very own makeup range, news swept through the global entertainment and luxury makeup industry.
What sets her makeup products apart? It’s vegan, animal cruelty-free, and multi-purpose. Bestsellers include:
- Liquid Eyeliner ($29.43): Matte black liquid eyeliner with 24 hour staying power for that signature Lady Gaga cat eye look
- Eye-Densify Gel Eyeliner Pencil ($26.63): Eyeliner pencil in 20 shades of colour
- PhD Hybrid Lip Oil ($35.04): Sheer lip oil that nourishes and tints your lips
The public’s response to Haus Laboratories was pretty divisive – while some fans were pretty disappointed that the makeup offered wasn’t ‘loud’ or characteristic of Lady Gaga’s stage personality, other fans loved that the makeup products were reflective of Lady Gaga’s off-stage, more mature, natural, and composed personality that she seems to be taking on of late.
Just this year, the brand was hit with a backlash after one of their campaign videos showed a model using the brand’s signature eyeliner to repeatedly ‘slash’ her wrist.
And… let’s not forget there’s Posh Spice. After the Spice Girls disbanded in 2001, Victoria Beckham went solo and starred in TV shows. Later in 2008, she launched her very own fashion brand – much to the fashion industry’s scathing criticism and dismay. Even though the fashion industry’s skepticism lasted for years, Beckham pressed on and eventually earned the critics and fellow peers’ respect. Today, she’s a reputable name on the international fashion circuit.
So, when she announced she was launching a series of her own makeup and skincare products alongside her Spring/ Summer 2020 runway in 2019, the Victoria Beckham Beauty brand was met with much excitement. If you live in Singapore, you’ll find Victoria Beckham Beauty on the e-commerce site, Net-a-Porter. Some signature products include the Posh Lipstick ($52), Bitten Lip Tint ($72), and a series of skincare products produced in conjunction with Augustinus Bader such as the Cell Rejuvenating Priming Moisturiser ($178).
In Jul 2021, Selena Gomez launched her very own skincare and makeup brand, Rare Beauty. The global launch included Singapore, where her products launched exclusively at Sephora. The name ‘Rare Beauty’ alludes to her most recent album, Rare, which she took almost three years to record before launching it in Jan 2020. Key products include:
- Lip Soufflé Matte Lip Cream ($32)
- Perfect Strokes Universal Volumizing Mascara ($19)
- Liquid Touch Weightless Foundation ($48)
Gomez’s launch saw a wave of ‘celebrity beauty brand fatigue’ amongst beauty aficionados, which sparked online debates about the longevity and sincerity of these ‘cash cow’ businesses for celebrities.
In Aug 2021, we saw Rosie Huntington-Whiteley launch her very own skincare and makeup brand, Rose Inc. Rosie Huntington-Whiteley was most recently the global ambassador of the reputable makeup brand, Hourglass.
Her own brand’s unique selling point? Soft glam makeup looks, skincare suitable for acne-prone skin (Rosie has acne-prone skin herself). Hero products include:
- Blush Divine Radiant Lip & Cheek Colour (US$30)
- Softlight Luminous Hydrating Concealer (US$30)
- Brow Renew Enriched Clear Shaping Gel (US$26)
Beauty fans have criticised that Rose Inc’s packaging resembles Selena Gomez’s Rare Beauty, prices are pretty steep, and her products have limited shade ranges.