TikTok may be known for dance videos and challenges made by a large Gen Z audience. The rise of the app quickly invites different types of creators, videos, and brands flocking into the trend, including beauty brands.

There is a huge appetite for beauty content across all platforms on the web. Brands recognized that with Gen Z and other TikTok users looking for entertainment while staying at home, it is the perfect time to increase their content investment on TikTok.

The first few beauty contents entered TikTok around 2018 to 2019, but this year more beauty accounts are created and coming with challenges tutorials, and a strong spike in their sales. Recently, Deciem’s The Ordinary garnered a 426% sales increase in its AHA 30% + BHA 2% Peeling Solution. Their spike of sales was highly-supported by the contents created by TikTok’s acne-positive teens who generated more than 48.7 million views under the hashtag #theordinary. This phenomenon happened organically and prompted the brand to create its own TikTok account in February 2020.

TikTok has also put 2002’s Bio-Oil’s Skincare Oil back on the map through a viral “beauty hack” post that has been viewed over 5.4 million times and has over 600k likes. Users quickly responded by buying and voluntarily posting review clips of the product saying “TikTok made me buy it”.

Top brands that are successfully leveraging their brands on TikTok include makeup store Sephora and Rihanna’s Fenty Beauty. Fenty Beauty went the extra mile by creating their very own TikTok House last March that featured the viral user, @AdamRayOkay a.k.a. Rosa. The comical post that features Rosa now has 4.1 million views and over 1 million likes, while the Fenty Beauty House is temporarily closed due to the COVID-19 outbreak. 

Hashtags have been a massive influence in the spread of beauty content on TikTok. The #makeuphacks hashtag has been viewed for over 2 billion times while the hashtag #selfcare that also features many beauty products has over 2.9 billion views. This became apparent for brands like E.l.f that has seen the biggest success not by creating their own content, but by creating virality with hashtag challenges campaigns.

Brands are also taking advantage of influencers’ endorsements. NYX has recently accumulated an astonishing number of 7 billion views on its campaign, despite the brand itself only having 15.4K followers on TikTok. The cosmetic brand created a custom song that’s paired with the hashtag #butterglosspop and popularized the campaign by working with high-profile TikTok stars including The Hype House’s Avani, MohoganyLox, Brent Rivera, Louie Castro, and Tanisha Coetzee.

The internet is predicted to see a wave of up-and-coming TikTok beauty influencers, an innovation that will potentially outcompete YouTube in terms of beauty videos. Shanae and Renae Nel, TikTok’s “Twinfluencers” of 1.2 million followers, recently launched a beauty line named Gloss Twins. A true-and-tried marketing strategy that has been successful for YouTube’s Huda Kattan, Jeffree Star, and many others. The twins are managed under Fanbytes, a UK-based influencer marketing company that founded Bytesized Talent.

When it comes to content, beauty brands acknowledged that the Gen Z audience is open to risky makeup looks and bold personalities. Brands such as Glossier and Fenty Beauty interpret this by creating self-acceptance, diversity, and “express yourself” campaigns. 

TikTok is the next big thing in beauty marketing and it’s time for brands to embrace the short video app. Beauty brands can easily take advantage of hashtags and using hashtag analytics to increase their rate of success. Analisa.io provides the tools to maximize your profile competitiveness in our TikTok Analytics.