Beauty Influencer Collaborations To Watch
We are back with our monthly series where we investigate which beauty brands are producing the most interesting and successful influencer collaborations!
- Brands featured: Benefit Cosmetics, Kiko Milano, Shiseido and Chanel Beauty
- Key learnings: makeup challenges do best if they have a “wow” factor, providing space for creativity allows for deeper connections, and great examples of the value skillful storytelling and in-person experiences
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Benefit Cosmetics
Best influencer collaboration: Manuel Gutierrez (@mannymua733)
- High engagement
- Quality content
What makes it work?
- Creative challenge: Makeup challenges are a dime a dozen these days, but Benefit Cosmetics managed to keep things interesting by thinking outside the box. Benefit is the first beauty company to ever partner with Crocs, and the collaboration did not disappoint. The brand created the #benefitofcrocschallenge, a makeup challenge led by key influencers like Manny Mua that spanned TikTok and Instagram Reels. The challenge involves participants doing their beauty routines while wearing sparkly, hot pink Crocs on their hands (this was a genius idea given the popularity of this shoe company amongst Gen Z and young Millenials). The result: videos that are both hilarious and incredibly product focused (without being salesy). The challenge paid off for both brands - not only did the challenge receive 4.8 million views on TikTok, it likely played a large role in the limited edition Crocs line selling out.
- Brand fit: Choosing influencers solely by the size of their audience isn't always smart - as we've all learned bigger isn't always better. However, it's safe to assume that Benefit didn't choose Manny just for his 4M+ followers (placing him squarely in the top tier). What made this collab such a perfect fit was the fact that Benefit was able to find a popular beauty influencer with brand affinity for itself and its partner. Manny has not only been a long term Crocs fan, he has regularly used Benefit products on all of his social channels.
Kiko Milano
Best influencer collaboration: Tess Masazza (@tessmasazza)
- High engagement
- Quality content
What makes it work?
- Priceless storytelling. French actress, Tess Masazza, transports you to the old Italian cinema in her collab with Kiko Milano. A handful of influencers, including Tess, recreated their favorite classic Diva looks using Kiko Milano’s Dolce Diva collection, but what we love about this particular collab is Tess’ ability to bring the story to life. She instantly grabs your attention and uses her creativity and skill to take you on through a day in the life of an Italian Diva. The attention is not centered around the beauty products but rather on how they capture the feeling of being a young starlet in the countryside. She even somehow makes putting mascara on while using a shovel as a mirror look glamorous - now that’s storytelling at its finest!
Shiseido
Best influencer collaboration: Lena Situations (@lenamahfouf)
- High engagement
- Quality Content
What makes it work?
- Effortlessly creative. While most beauty collabs show us the glam up process for a night out, Lena Situations chose to show her getting “unready” routine with Shiseido’s Waso Beauty products. In this video, the French vlogger beautifully illustrates how she uses the clean skincare products to unwind and keep her skin healthy after a night out in Paris. The collab is compelling because of its simplicity and lightheartedness - reminding us that skincare is an essential part of a healthy beauty routine.
Chanel Beauty
Best influencer collaboration: Ava (@glowwithava)
- High engagement
- Quality Content
What makes it work?
- Experiences trump hauls. In-store shopping is back! To celebrate this, Chanel invited beauty influencers, including Ava, to come to their New York store for free gifts and a makeover. In return Ava filmed a walk through of the store and showed herself getting pampered with a natural beauty makeover - this earned approximately 9x more engagements than the simple unboxing video she posted a day later. Providing influencers with the chance to promote your brand through immersive, first-hand experiences is a fresh, interactive way to get their audience engaged!
- Dream collaborations. Finding an influencer who not only uses your brand’s products but dreams about your brand’s image and values is the holy grail of influencer collaborations. Putting in the extra research to find influencers who are mega fans of your brand pays off - Exhibit A, Ava’s excitement is contagious when she shares that she received an invite from her “dream brand,” Chanel. At the end of the day, influencer marketing is about building relationships, and the strongest ones are built on a foundation of shared values and excitement.