The New Holy Trinity: Hailey, Selena, and (Surprise!) Ariana

How cynics and shoppers came around to a glitter-infused makeup line, and why it’s now beating everyone — including Rare Beauty — at the Instagram metric game.

By Faran Krentcil

11 April 2025

Welcome back to Haul of Fame, your must-read beauty roundup for new products, new ideas and a business proposal for Jenna Rink.

Included in today’s issue: Anonlychild, Boy Smells, Cécred, Clinique, Coach, ColourPop, Dwell212, Elizabeth Arden, Ellis Brooklyn, E.l.f. Cosmetics, Essie, Florence by Mills, Iconic London, Image Skincare, Iris & Romeo, Jones Road, Korres, Laneige, Lolavie, MAC Cosmetics, Marc Jacobs, Noyz, OGX, Saltyface, Scentbird, Sephora, Sheglam, Solawave, Ursa Major, and big bubble letters.

But first…

I fear we have underestimated Ariana Grande.

True, it’s tough to call the pop star an underdog. She has an Oscar nomination, two Grammys and half a billion social media followers. But despite worldwide adoration, the pixie powerhouse is rarely labeled a “beauty mogul” by industry trade papers. That’s odd since after buying back her cosmetics line, R.e.m. beauty, from Forma Brands in 2023, she secured a $15 million investment from Sandbridge Capital, sold one perfume every 11 seconds, and wore glitter eyeshadow without looking like a “White Lotus” boat raver. (Alas, Chelsea!)

Still, when we talk about the “celebrity” category, it’s almost always about the three Rs: Selena Gomez’s skyrocketing Rare Beauty, Hailey Bieber’s astonishing Rhode Skin, and Fenty Beauty by Rihanna.

On April 9, R.e.m. Beauty became the fourth ‘r’ in the famous-girl cosmetics coven. That’s when the social analysis platform Dash Hudson dropped their annual Beauty Industry Benchmark Report, a white paper so in-demand, and so damn expensive, I had to put the moves on a tech executive just to get a copy. (Okay, fine, he’s my boyfriend. But still...) The 34-page brief breaks down the best uses for each social media network — YouTube for narrative short videos; Instagram for click-to-buy moments; TikTok for basically everything else — and spotlights the top-performing brands on every major platform.

Frankly, R.e.m. Beauty slayed harder than Fortinbras at the end of “Hamlet.” On Instagram, the brand landed a 1.8 percent engagement rate, higher than any non-celebrity beauty brand and double that of Rare. (Rhode Skin had a 2.3 percent rate — the highest — while Sol de Janeiro came in with 1.3.) On TikTok, Rhode and R.e.m. were nearly tied for engagement (7.7 percent for Hailey vs. 7.6 for Ariana), with Rare knocked off the podium completely by Millie Bobby Brown’s Florence by Mills line.

People love to make it look like women are fighting, so let’s be clear here: This is not a knock on the amazing success and accomplished formulas of Rare Beauty or the authentic and undeniable appeal of its talented founder Selena Gomez. As Marie Claire editor-in-chief Nikki Ogunnaike told the newsletter Feed Me, “Everyone can eat.” (And look, their blush is sick.)

Still, it’s notable that R.e.m. skyrocketed so much in such a short amount of time, and it gives two interesting hints for growing a brand’s celebrity strategy in the future.

1. It turns out, beauty consumers aren’t as cynical as we feared. The Wicked tie-ins and red carpet product promotion really worked. The trick was tying the R.e.m. exposure to a very real end-date, instead of making it seem like an endless rush. We knew that Grande’s constant TV appearances and product tie-ins would end when “Wicked”’s promotional cycle did, just like we knew Nyx’s “Barbie” streak was basically a summer fling — a good time, not a long one. In both cases, the brand’s awareness and revenue soared, and stayed high even months after the movie hype ended. (Eagle eyes will recognise a cameo of the brand’s Satin Matte blush compacts during the song “Popular.”)
2. As an industry, we need to get better at accepting a hard truth: Social media success can certainly drive revenue, but it’s not a guaranteed jet pack. After all, it costs nothing to hit the “like” button, and $19 to buy a R.e.m. Drippy Gloss Balm. Witness the undeniable dominance of Fenty Beauty, which brought in $603 million last year and didn’t make these Dash Hudson rankings at all. (Neither did Glossier, actually, which is certainly something to think about.) Will R.e.m. Beauty make a record profit in 2025? Like a Magic 8 ball after you shake it five times, the data says “all signs point to yes.” Will it out-earn Rare Beauty, even though it’s out-performing the brand on social engagement metrics? To quote one of Selena Gomez’s own song titles, “Slow down.” There are other factors — namely, distribution partners, strategic ad spends, and product alignment— that drive sales even more than engaged TikTok fans.

Speaking of product alignment, an innocent question: Would it help if R.e.m. Beauty released a ponytail slick-back balm? It would be pop-u-lar. Just saying.