By ULIKEBEAUTY
Updated: March 1, 2023
7 minutes
As International Women’s Day is around the corner, we decided to celebrate the day with the most inspirational women in the beauty industry as women and beauty go hand in hand. These are the women who started to choose a different career path, but they finally choose to help other women become prettier along the way.
International Women’s Day is celebrated on March 8, every year in acknowledgment of the role women play in our lives. Moreover, it is to bring attention to women’s power, their influence, and their achievements in the world of gender inequality.
Therefore, to acknowledge women and their efforts here’s a list of the top 10 women who are taking over the beauty industry in 2023.
1. Rihanna
Followers:
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TikTok ( @Rihanna ) – 8.1M followers
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Instagram ( Fentybeauty ) – 12.1M followers
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Facebook ( @Rihanna ) – 103M followers
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Youtube ( @Rihanna ) 41.2M subscribers
Robyn Rihanna Fenty started her career as a musician in 2003 by the stage name Rihanna. Later on, she launched the cosmetic brand Fenty beauty in 2017. She brought a change in dark women’s lives with a wide range of foundation shades.
Recently, Rihanna performed live during the epic Super Bowl LVII halftime performance and cashed in on her appearance in the show by touching up her makeup during the performance. It was her first live television performance in five years, and she didn’t let the opportunity to promote her makeup brand go to waste.
Rihanna’s makeup line is popular for having 50 different shades of foundation that helped women find the right fit for them. Her cosmetics sell within minutes just like her albums. She won 9 Grammys and brought a revolution in the makeup industry and is a fashionista.
Additionally, she is frequently seen being a part of humanitarian movements and business ventures. Thus, Rihanna is one of the top influential women elites in the beauty industry as a businesswoman, singer, songwriter, and actress.
2. Selena Gomez
Followers:
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Tiktok ( @Selenagomez ) – 46.9M followers
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Instagram ( @Selenagomez ) – 380M followers
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Facebook ( @Selena ) – 88M followers
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Youtube ( @Selenagomez ) – 32.5M subscribers
The young yet stunning Selena Gomez began her career as a child actress. Later on, she started to sing for Disney projects and released her debut single in 2013. Selena; the phenomenal singer, actress, and producer did not stop there. In 2020, she introduced her makeup brand, Rare beauty.
Rare beauty aims to break unrealistic standards of perfection and find perfection in imperfection. It produces breathable and easy-on-skin products like blushes, lip shades, and foundations.
During her career, she went through depression, opened up about it, fought it, and took steps to save others from mental health problems as well. She illustrates the importance of mental health through her makeup brand. Additionally, she regularly donates 1% of rare beauty’s earnings to the education and mental health of school children.
3. Linda Wells
Followers:
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Instagram ( @Lindawellsny ) – 21k followers
Linda Wells is one of the most well-known names when it comes to beauty journalism. She began her career as a reporter in The New York Times and became the beauty editor and food editor of the same magazine. Then she joined vogue as a beauty, fitness, and wellness writer.
In 1991, she founded her own fashion and beauty Magazine, Allure. She also worked at Revlon and launched a Fenty beauty-inspired makeup brand, Flesh.
She has over 30 years of experience as an editor, beauty strategist, journalist, and creator. Linda’s powerful expertise as an editor made Allure the top fashion magazine. It is famous for publishing honest reviews about trendy brands and products.
4. Pat McGrath
Followers:
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TikTok ( patmcgrathreal ) – 135.8k followers
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Instagram ( @patmcgrathreal ) – 4.9M followers
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Facebook ( @PatMcGrathReal ) – 537k followers
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Youtube ( PatMcgrath ) – 16.2k subscribers
Pat McGrath is the most influential makeup artist in the world of all time. Keeping up with the makeup world and bringing the latest makeup styles even after 25 years of the beginning of her career made Pat McGrath the mother of modern makeup.
She has worked with many luxury brands like Parada, Valentino, Gucci, Versace, LV, and every brand you can think of. Moreover, she has created looks for fashion shows in Paris, London, and Millan and those looks have been published in Fashion magazines including vogue and allure.
In 2015, she launched Pat McGrath Labs; the largest-selling brand at Selfridges. In 2019, she achieved a place among the 100 most influential people in the world because of her advanced advertising campaigns, everlasting demand, and editorial magazine spread.
5. Ju Rhyu
Followers:
Ju Rhu is a Korean who got an MBA degree in Colombia and started working in the marketing teams of brands like Samsung, American Express, and Kraft. She was always interested in skincare. This interest made her realize that there was no solution for one of the biggest skin problems of women in America. There were no pimple patches to protect the skin and drain the pimple like that in her hometown.
So, she conducted a pimple patch experiment through amazon. The overwhelming response within 3 months made her launch Hero Cosmetics with a single product, the hero mighty patch in 2017.
6. Tisha Thompson
Followers:
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TikTok ( @lysbeautyofficial ) – 7.7k followers
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Instagram ( @Glamourgurl5 ) – 9k followers
Tisha Thompson, an accountant by profession dedicated her life to the production of clean beauty products. From working in the marketing team to playing a major role in the development of the 100 foundation shades collection at PUR cosmetics, she realized what she really wanted.
There were no brands that offered a combination of non-toxic skin-friendly ingredients and a wide range of makeup shades suitable for dark skin tones. This led her to the launch of LYS beauty. LYS beauty offers a diverse collection of clean skincare and makeup products at affordable prices. Moreover, it is the first black women-owned brand at Sephora.
7. Vicky Tsai
Followers:
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TikTok ( @Tatcha ) – 50.5k followers
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Instagram ( @tatcha ) – 1.2M followers
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Facebook ( @Tatchabeauty ) – 268k followers
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Youtube ( @Tatcha ) 8.89k subscribers
Vicky Tsai, born in Taiwan, completed her education in San Francisco and began her career in New York. At first, she worked as a beauty editor and writer for Allure, Lucky, Glamour, and Self. Then the idea of bringing traditional Japanese steps and ingredients for cleaning and hydrating skin into modern skincare hit her and she founded Tatcha in 2009.
Tatcha has gentle products suitable for all skin types. Its popular products include blotting papers, water-based creams, AHA exfoliating liquid, camellia cleansing oil, and many more.
8. Holly Thaggard
Followers:
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TikTok ( @supergoop ) – 66.6k followers
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Instagram ( @HollyThaggard ) – 9.5k followers
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Facebook ( @Supergoop ) – 81k followers
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Youtube ( @supergoop! ) – 4.98k subscribers
We all by now know the damage sunrays do to our skin. Also, we are aware of the importance of SPF and UV radiation protection. However, this was not the case when Holly Thaggard was young. Her friend was diagnosed with melanoma, a skin cancer affecting millions of people every year.
So, Holly Thaggard vowed to protect people from the same condition. In 2007, she began her sunscreen brand, Supergoop to supply local schools with affordable sun protection. Then, it flourished into the popular sunscreen brand it is today.
Supergoop is 100% dedicated to SPF. It produces a diverse range of SPSF in multiple forms including a sunblock stick, spray, sunscreen, and lotion.
9. Michelle Phan
Followers:
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TikTok ( @themichellephan ) – 401.8k followers
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Instagram ( @Michellephan ) – 1.9M followers
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Facebook ( @Michellephanofficial ) – 2.9M followers
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Youtube ( @michellephan ) – 8.73M subscribers
Michelle Phan began her career as a beauty YouTuber in 2007. She created makeup tutorials that went viral and made many beauty gurus her followers. In 2011, she became the co-founder of Ipsy beauty, a makeup subscription startup with 100 employees. Recently, she introduced a programmer, a shift music group to promote musicians and rookie artists.
Additionally, her makeup brand, Em cosmetics is a multi-million dollar brand that sells skin-friendly products including blushes, powders, and creamy lipsticks.
10. Emily Weiss
Followers:
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TikTok ( @glossier ) – 463.7k followers
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Instagram ( @emilyweiss ) – 732k followers
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Facebook ( @emilyweiss ) – 2.6k followers
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Youtube ( @glossier ) – 159k subscribers
Emily Weiss, an American businesswoman, founded the makeup brand Glossier and the beauty blog Into the Gloss. In 2015, she took a place on Forbes 30 under 30 lists and was featured in Time magazine’s “Next 100”.
At first, she created the blog and the hugely positive response to the blog led to the launch of glossier. It helped her know what kind of products women loved and that is what she created. It is a minimalist beauty brand that is famous for its no makeup makeup look products and user-friendly items.
Glossier had a vision of helping women accept themselves, be happy in their own skin, and own it. The makeup is to enhance the look while not concealing facial features.
Conclusion
The existence of women is worth celebrating as they are struggling just like men to make a difference in this world, to make their fellow humans’ lives a little easier, to fight violence, and to make their mark. Every woman is worth appreciating. So, here we have talked about the women who began from nothing and rose to fame.
These women started their careers as artists, journalists, musicians, marketing managers, and product developers. However, as they grew, so did their mindset, making them take turns introducing products, magazines, and brands that took over the beauty industry.
Rihanna has been one of the top 3 influential women in the beauty industry for years. After her, come celebrities like Selena Gomez, makeup artists like Pat McGrath, beauty influencers like Michelle Phan, Beauty editors like Linda Wells, Asian beauty enthusiasts like Ju Rhyu and Holly Thaggard, and businesswomen like Emily Weiss.
