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Eye cream by Ellen DeGeneres. Body wash by Alicia Keys. CBD beard oil by DJ Khaled. These are all very real products, and if you’re one of the people using them, consider yourself in the minority.
New Morning Consult data shows most people are largely unaware of celebrity beauty brands (with a few exceptions—looking at you, Rihanna). Still, only 31% of more than 2,000 US respondents said they’d seen, read, or heard “some” or “a lot” about her Fenty Beauty line. And that was the largest percentage; only 12% said the same for DJ Khaled’s Blesswell.
What’s more, it found 74% said they were not interested in buying beauty products from celebrity brands at all.
Overkill: Last month, a piece in The New York Times asked stars to stop coming out with beauty brands of their own. For one, the article laid out, the market is oversaturated, with new lines released at a “dizzying rate.” Recent examples include a nail-polish line by Harry Styles and an upcoming makeup and wellness line by Hailey Bieber.
- The list is growing so long that The Cut took it upon itself to make an encyclopedia of celebrity beauty brands.
Plus, people seem to be wary of—or uninterested in—products that they can’t be sure celebs use themselves. Or, if they do, people might suspect their use is likely accompanied by the work of top dermatologists, aestheticians, plastic surgeons, etc.
- “Celebrities are saying, ‘This is my skin care, this is what I use, and, no, I don’t get Botox, it’s just my products,’”’ Stacey Berke, 34, told the Times. “It makes it hard to believe.”
- According to Morning Consult, 31% of Americans uninterested in celebrity beauty brands said they do not trust celebrities to have well-made products.
The Times partly cites Kylie Jenner for ushering in the celebrity-makeup era in 2015 with Kylie Cosmetics. Notably, Morning Consult’s survey did not include the brand, which has since expanded to Kylie Skin and most recently, Kylie Baby.
Whatever her next venture is (Kylie Food? Kylie Décor?), precedents suggest more brands will follow—and many people won’t know the difference.—KH