Selena Gomez, Rihanna, and Kim Kardashian became billionaires mostly through beauty businesses, not art products.

Bloomberg values ​​Selena Gomez’s fortune at $1.3 billion, 81.4% of which comes from the profits of her beauty brand Rare Beauty with skincare, makeup, and hair products. The remaining 18.4% includes her salary from singing, acting, and advertising…

Before Gomez, except for Taylor Swift who made money mainly from music, the list of Hollywood billionaires including Kim Kardashian, Rihanna, or “pretty billionaire” Kylie Jenner – all got rich quickly from selling cosmetics and fashion, instead of art products.

Business Insider commented that this is a common trend nowadays. Celebrities are competing to open beauty brands with the ambition of becoming the next USD billionaire.

Make a fortune in the beauty business

Rare Beauty, which launched in September 2020 and is named after Gomez’s third album, has quickly become one of the most prestigious beauty addresses. Time reports that Rare Beauty owns many of Sephora’s best-selling product lines and is available in 36 countries. Annual sales are expected to increase 100% from 2021 to 2022 and 200% the following year, reaching $400 million in the 12 months ending in May 2024.

The brand’s best-selling product is a liquid blush that costs just $23. This item alone brings in $70 million in sales. As of early this year, the brand was valued at more than $2 billion.

“The success of Rare Beauty makes me happy every night when I go to bed,” Gomez shared at the TIME 100 conference.

Rihanna – the singer with a net worth of $1.3 billion – also did well with Fenty Beauty (cosmetics), and Savage x Fenty (lingerie). In April 2023, according to a report by beauty product comparison platform Cosmetify, Fenty Beauty recorded an annual revenue of $583.8 million. This makes Rihanna’s cosmetics brand the most successful beauty brand.

According to SCMP, after only one year of launching, the company’s revenue reached 550 million USD. The company’s success helped Rihanna attract the attention of LVMH. In 2019, the French luxury fashion group owned half of the shares, and Rihanna had 15% of the shares of Fenty Beauty.

Last February, with just 3 seconds of powdering on the Super Bowl stage, Rihanna attracted more than 5.6 million USD in media value for her brand.

Selena Gomez, Kim Kardashian, and Rihanna became billionaires thanks largely to business profits. Photo: E! News.

Selena Gomez, Kim Kardashian and Rihanna became billionaires thanks largely to business profits. Photo: E! News.

Before Rihanna, Kim Kardashian joined the billionaire ranks in April 2021. At that time, Forbes magazine wrote: “Thanks to cosmetics company KKW Beauty and fashion brand Skims, Kardashian’s net worth has increased to $1 billion .” Currently, the mother of four’s assets are $1.7 billion .

The Things says women around the world love KKW Beauty’s lipsticks, highlighters, concealers, eyeshadows, and contouring kits. There was a time when Kardashian’s Instagram was full of images of her wearing her signature makeup using the products mentioned above.

In 2020, the American star sold 20% of KKW Beauty shares to cosmetics giant Coty for $200 million – a decisive deal that helped the company’s value increase dramatically, reaching the $1 billion mark. After KKW Beauty and Skims, Kardashian launched a new product line called SKKN.

General trends of celebrities

At the age of 19, Kylie Jenner shocked the world when Forbes announced her as the “youngest self-made billionaire in the world” thanks to her successful creation of the Kylie Cosmetics empire, diversifying her products and expanding into skin care. Although the American magazine later corrected that this was actually the “trick of the century” and Jenner’s assets were still under $900 million, it is undeniable that the revenue from her business has helped the Kardashian sisters live a regal life.

Shortly, if sales go well, Kylie Jenner will be called a billionaire again.

The list of the world’s most successful cosmetics brands also includes Ariande Grande’s Rem Beauty and Jeffree Star Cosmetics, founded by Jeffree Star, followed by Florence by Mills, Goop, Kylie Skin (also owned by Kylie Jenner), KVD Beauty and Supergoop!. Their brand value and profits are on the rise.

Hailey launched the Rhode product line after marrying Justin Bieber, so as not to be left out of the game. However, the products under this brand were criticized by Jeffree Star for being boring and thrown in the trash. The brand also faced suspicions of plagiarism, affecting revenue.

Harry Styles enters the market with the nail care brand Pleasing. Photo: NME.

Harry Styles enters the market with the nail care brand Pleasing. Photo: NME.

In addition to female stars, the market also has the participation of Harry Styles with Pleasing, Machine Gun Kelly with UN/DN Laqr, and Pharrell Williams with Humanrace. Of these, only Harry Styles has broken through. Cosmopolitan magazine reported that the singer’s net worth increased by $20 million since founding Pleasing, bringing his total assets to $120 million.

Meanwhile, Le Domaine, Brad Pitt’s skincare brand, has received mixed reviews for its high product prices. A bottle of the brand’s grape serum costs up to $385. Additionally, consumers are concerned about product transparency, as Angelina Jolie’s ex-husband has never shared his skincare routine.

According to Highsnobiety, celebrity-founded beauty brands have strongly risen over the past few years. Stars have flocked to the cosmetics business because they see the huge profits it brings. However, not everyone is successful because the results depend on many factors.

In an interview with Business Insider, beauty expert Jeffrey Ten said that female celebrity beauty brands will be more accessible to the general public because, in reality, women still have more beauty needs than men. Not to mention, female celebrities know how to fully utilize their social media appeal to sell their products.

“The more influence and followers they have, the more people will be interested in their brand, thereby increasing purchasing power and increasing profits,” said Jeffrey Ten, citing the fact that Gomez has 425 million followers on Instagram and that her direct modeling of products has helped her quickly become a billionaire.