Top 10 Most-Mentioned Makeup Brands by Influencers

Introduction

Makeup is the single biggest category in beauty's creator economy. It is not close. Tutorials, swatches and get-ready-with-me videos turn cosmetics into endlessly watchable content, which is why a viral blush can sell out nationwide overnight. The brands that win are a telling mix: century-old giants sitting right alongside labels founded by the very creators driving the conversation. Follow the mentions and you see where beauty is headed.

Here are the makeup brands creators mention most, the data behind them, plus how they win.

The brands

Here are makeup brands most mentioned by influencers, with what each is known for. Rankings shift, so treat this as a snapshot.

Sources: WWD via CreatorIQ, Kolsquare, RetailBoss. Rankings reported, vary by period and method.

Why makeup dominates social

No beauty category suits creator content quite like makeup. A few traits make it a natural fit.

• Demonstrable. Tutorials, swatches and before-and-after looks show product results instantly.
• Try-it culture. Affordable brands thrive because viewers can buy and recreate looks cheaply.
• Creator founders. Brands like Rare Beauty and Rhode launched from creators with built-in audiences.
• TikTok-native. Short-form video is perfect for makeup, where one clip can drive a sell-out.

The earned media angle

The clearest way to see who is winning is earned media value, the estimated worth of a brand's organic mentions and engagement. Makeup leads the whole sector.

According to data reported by WWD, L'Oreal Paris topped beauty in 2025 with an estimated $792 million in earned media value from January through November, per CreatorIQ. Hailey Bieber's Rhode showed the fastest growth among the top brands, reportedly rising 83% to around $685.5 million. Zooming out, WeArisma data reported by WWD put total beauty EMV at roughly $40 billion in 2025, up 17%, with makeup alone accounting for about 61% of that. TikTok has now overtaken Instagram as the biggest driver. These are estimates from analytics firms and vary by method, though the pattern is clear: makeup is the engine of beauty's creator economy.

How brands win

The brands topping these rankings share a recognisable playbook. It is one any makeup brand can study.

They give creators a product with a clear, showable result, since a striking blush or lip stain produces far more authentic content than a vague claim. They show up on TikTok, where the category now lives, then embrace the try-it-yourself culture by keeping hero products accessible. The fastest risers prove the point: indie brands have rocketed up the rankings on the strength of a single demo-friendly product going viral. And the creator-founded brands show the ultimate version, where the founder is the influencer and the marketing is inseparable from the product. Make your product easy and rewarding to feature, then watch the mentions follow.

How to use this with Flinque

Topping a beauty EMV chart looks like magic, though underneath sits a deliberate roster of the right creators demonstrating a showable product. The brands here did not get lucky. They found creators whose audiences matched and gave them something worth posting.

Flinque helps you build that roster. You can search 10M+ verified creators by niche, including makeup and beauty, benchmark engagement to find genuinely active audiences, then run a fake follower check before you partner. Study the brands winning on mentions, then go find the creators who can do the same for you. Start free.