More consumers are turning to medically backed skincare brands over ones founded by their favourite stars. Here we look at what’s behind this shift in trends
When Kylie Jenner launched Kylie Cosmetics in 2015 with three liquid lipsticks, the products famously sold out in seconds and crashed the brand’s website, making the youngest Jenner sister a beauty mogul overnight. Since then, celebrities have been jumping on to the bandwagon and churning out beauty brands one after another. Not only are female stars sashaying into the beauty industry—from Rihanna’s Fenty Beauty to Hailey Bieber’s Rhode Skin—the men of Tinseltown are also getting in on the action: there is Brad Pitt’s Le Domaine Skincare, and of course, Pharrell Williams’ Humanrace.
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In fact, according to a 2023 Bloomberg report, more than 50 celebs, from the world of entertainment, such as Kim Kardashian, to sports, like tennis player Naomi Osaka, have launched their own brands with varying degrees of favourable reception. While some like Fenty Beauty have achieved astronomical success—Forbes reported that Fenty was worth US$2.8 billion in 2021—not all have been able to replicate this level of triumph.
However, since the Covid-19 pandemic, a time in which the world collectively paid more attention to medical advice than ever before, there’s been a shift in consumer preferences. Now, beauty buyers are getting less drawn to big names and opting for science-backed products with proven results instead. The pandemic also disrupted some clinical treatments, which nudged people towards seeking professional expertise from the beauty products they use at home in order to maintain the results they’re used to; thus giving rise to skincare brands founded or recommended by doctors as they are perceived to be more recognised and validated by medical science, and therefore believed to be more trustworthy and effective. Hong Kong-based dermatologist Dr Carmen Lam of SKIIN Medical and Aesthetic Dermatology clinic says another contributing factor might be because “buyers nowadays educate themselves and do their homework thoroughly on the internet before buying anything”. And when products backed by professionals come with data to support their safety and effects, they become the ones to rise above others backed only by claims from a celebrity.