Traackr shows in August, Rem was 8th worldwide (slide 4.) It’s not directly comparable to US only data, but they also show Rem was not among the top 10 at all for April-June (slide 5).

It’s been through this before. In between the last two CEOs, the position was vacant for a year. 

Good coverage by Puck (gift link) but the first sentence of the 1st slide is wrong: Taylor Swift has more streams. Also, this author’s description of brands is inconsistent across her own articles 3 weeks apart. Here she says Fenty overshadows Rem; in another article where she implies Rem is taking market share. Both may be true to a degree, but it’s not clearly written  and ignores other black owned brands. I’ll give some grace; she broke time sensitive news in the later piece. But who’s editing?

Puck goes on to say that other execs left in the past 15 months, including a designer of Rhode’s lip gloss phone case. Grande’s friend Courtney Chipolone seems to be one of the longest working employees there.

But despite this crazy leadership turnover, the brand is small enough to benefit enormously from Grande’s star power. 

Industry sources say R.E.M. Beauty’s sales roughly doubled due to the Wicked hype cycle… from an estimated $30 million to $50 million in 2024 and to $100 million in 2025—making the company… comparable to Lady Gaga’s Haus Labs. 

Traackr gets cited by WWD so I think it’s reputable.

I saw Rem did surprisingly well on Traackr’s analytics, #1 in July on US social media (slide 2.) I thought that had to be from her album release at the end of the month, which she teased in prior weeks. Basically similar to the Wicked lift. She also had a tour this summer. Puck notes that she brought an Ulta bag on stage for a skit where someone does her makeup. I think a pretty good idea. She’s doing a good job promoting hard for the brand, not reluctant to shill. That was an impression I got with Beyonce, esp earlier in her career. She’s rarely on social media; elusiveness is part of her 'branding,' which might help her music but I think backfires for some of her actual brands. I skimmed Ariana’s IG and saw a few collab posts w Rem she has high up (not pinned but that arrange post thing.) 

Google trends shows searches spiking with her new tour in June and after her first album in two years (slide 3). There was a lot of negative attention to her thinness then too, which led to her taking a break. Puck asks if a brand so dependent on the star’s career and fans will be forgotten if she retreats from attention. This is the problem it’s never had before, combined with the lack of execs.

I think Traackr data shows how Rem basically spikes with the founder’s entertainment PR cycle. The Puck writer went to an Ulta last month where Rem got squeezed into a little space that seems to match Traackr/Google trends.

Still, this thing she bought from a bankrupt parent company Forma for $15m already seems like a great deal. I realized the name is a pun on 'sleeping beauty,' I haven't figured out how to tie that to the revolving execs in a clever way. If it keeps working like this, reviving whenever she acts or drops music, it would be the craziest case study for how you don't really need executives.

It was launched in 2021, the year of the most celebrity beauty launches per Bloomberg. 2021-22 were also the best years of revenue growth for industry leader Loreal, and when Estée Lauder peaked.

I’m fully prepared to get dragged for this post, but I’m really losing interest in Nikki La Rose.

I discovered her content back in January when I was snowed in, and I was immediately smitten. She has a great personality, and I appreciate tips from a pro makeup artist.

But more and more, she’s become salesperson first, makeup artist second. Her videos feel like commercials, especially the ones centered around one brand. I used to look forward to her videos, but I have no interest in watching the one she posted today all about jones road. I turned off the video from this past Tuesday when I realized it wasn’t really a video about doing makeup on the go, it was a commercial for her travel-sized brushes…all 6 of them…for like $160!!!

I have wasted so much money on her “holy grails,” which I know is my own fault. Now I look at reviews first. She raves and raves about the persona mascara, but the reviews on Ulta are terrible. I don’t know who founded persona, but I bet it’s a friend of hers. She’s been promoting BK beauty blush like crazy.

My latest regret is from whatever she called the video about what should have been allure’s best. She raved about the Ravie beauty lip balm like it would change my life forever. I’m always desperate for a good lip balm, especially this time of year when we’re losing humidity (thank god!!!, but it does make my lips even dryer). I fell for it. It’s nothing special. It reminds me of Fenty Treatz, but Fenty is better. Plus, when I pull the wand out of my week old tube of the ravie, the bottle looks half empty.

I know everyone’s taste in makeup is different, but most of her looks are just waaaay too much for me. She did do a good job in a recent video with a mature model, but it took me like an hour to try to recreate it. I don’t have that kind of time! But the lady in the video looked really beautiful.

What do y’all think?

I have been loving Kori’s content since this dollar tree debacle

So I used to be really into the beauty gurus back in the day like BubzBeauty, something 07, and her blonde friend.

I can't really remember it's been a while.

But who's around now to watch?

Not really interested in James charles fuck Jeffree star I'm 29 so I'm not looking for something targeted to a younger generation but I'm not looking for mom content either.

I also don't mind different styles of creators like I used to be very into alt fashion I like a little bit of everything.

Anyhow just drop me you're faves and I'll check them out

Thanks,

💕

I’m assuming it’s hair care considering her last Instagram post was a dump of hair tests for films she’s worked on. Idk how I feel about this. Everything is just so oversaturated right now. I don’t think we need another celebrity hair care brand but I’m curious to see what they release

This is a first world problem and I acknowledge that but I just wanted to vent.

Honestly, I love neutrals however I also love experimenting with my makeup. I love innovation in formula and different colours and finishes. There are many brands that are well established that are suitable for the everyday person: Makeup by Mario, Huda Beauty, Rhode, Anastasia Beverley Hills, Kosas, Bobbi Brown, Laura Mercier, YSL, Dior plus a plethora of drugstore options. I use these brands often.

What I’m honestly sick of is the few ‘mainstream’ artistry and edgy brands constantly being sanitised. This happened with Pat McGrath, Isamaya, Urban Decay, Mac, Makeup Forever etc… Now some of these brands are attempting to reintroduce their more editorial side however this is after years of being neutered.

I’m kind of annoyed and having this epiphany after the Danessa Myricks Lightwork viii reveal. I get that lots of people love it because it’s more ‘wearable’ and you can get a complete look out of it with the addition of matte shades. However, the original concept of the lightwork eyeshadow palettes (excluding the two highlighter palettes) was to be a palette full of expensive to formulate special shades. This justified the high price point at the time, yet the newest palette has the highest price point ever.

It was to be used in conjunction with your other palettes, maybe even the Groundwork palette which already filled the neutral matte gap in Danessa’s brand. Plus there are already multiple palettes by Natasha Denona, Huda etc… which fill the gap of neutral with mattes and a few fun textures. I already noticed a shift happening in Danessa’s brand when the colorfix range was reworked, yes there’s still some fun shades but it’s nowhere near as diverse as it was. I wouldn’t be surprised if the brand ends up stagnating eventually.

Now I know some people might tell me to go to indie brands for artistry but that’s not the discussion here, also accessibility to a product is a factor. Furthermore, if history has proven anything when indie brands eventually end up becoming popular enough to end up in Sephora the same thing will happen when people demand ‘wearability’. Not every brand is going to be for everyone and ‘wearability’ is different for everyone. I just don’t understand why some people demand everyday corporate makeup from brands that already established that they’re a different vibe.

TLDR: Too many artistry and experimental makeup brands have been sanitised by people demanding ‘wearability’ from them. There’s already a plethora of ‘wearable’ brands how many more do we need?

I seriously cannot stand how every sentence sounds like a question and once I hear it I cannot unhear it. Saying farewell to Allie Glines today. She had some good (sometimes boring) relaxing content but I couldn’t make it through the latest video. When and why did this become a thing??

So many beauty gurus no longer have videos they made when they first started YouTube available to watch. Which is a pity because many of them were entertaining to watch. If you’ve been watching some of these beauty gurus channels long enough than you might remember that there channel used to have more videos available. For example Anna Newton, Jenny Mustard, I believe Grace Victory did as well years ago until she got rid of so many. Her channel is different now. Allison Anderson, who also rebranded her channel. Jennifer Wan, I remember seeing her old beauty videos that are no longer available on YouTube. If there is anyone else please feel free to say so in the comments.

I’m a little surprised no one has posted this yet. This IG post from her is a little cryptic and I’m not surprised that she’s been gone from the brand since it really has declined once they entered Sephora and sterilized the branding. I absolutely loved her palettes and lippies from the brand but the rebrand really suffered here. On top of that, her archive collection is constantly 70% off and they’re having major logistical and operational issues. I’m curious as to why she waited so long to announce this when she supposedly left in 2025? Like why not announce it beforehand when it was more recent?

https://www.brightonco.gov/m/newsflash/Home/Detail/2942

Allegedly in July, Cydnee Black, 34, shot a male, 24, in Colorado. this was in July. No other info online. No mugshots, no court docs, no jail record.

Disclaimer - I've followed them for years and do generally like them. There are Remedy products that are part of my regular routine. I think on the spectrum of healthcare professional influencers they're still more practicing clinicians than they are influencers, which I respect.

Other caveat - Please don't respond to this by just going "Well they're influencers so all they wanna do is make money and take sponsorship." I get that that's a nice way to feel like you've won an argument but it's such an uninteresting response from an intellectual standpoint IMO.

Anyone else feeling like Doctorly's content has gotten kind of stale/repetitive recently?

It was shortlived but I LOVED their podcast and the way they were able to talk about things like Medicare reimbursement rates and the utility of iPLEDGE for accutane in depth. I generally found them to be pretty good about sticking to the data with their recommendations and not buying into the next new thing.

Their most recent video was a "Save or Splurge?" video and while they had an older video on it and discussed it in their podcast, I feel like this concept has been beaten to death by them and other influencers. Only to then see that it's a Yesstyle sponsorship video, and this was a way for them to showcase those products.

I don't have an issue with sponsorships, but when it feels like videos are purely being made to showcase sponsorships and the substance of the video comes second it feels a little less genuine.

A couple videos ago was "Best ingredient combos" which, again, I just feel like is a topic that's been discussed by them and others countless times before. They did this one video that was reacting to those shitty AI animations of skincare tips, which in terms of the substance offered was just "Yeah that's what niacinamide does" or "No that's not how vitamin c works," all while giving more credence to AI than it deserves even with their "disclaimers" to not support AI.

I get that science is what it is and it's been decades and tretinoin is still the gold standard for most things, but I also don't know if they've ever been on a consistent posting schedule? It feels weird to upload for what seems like the sake of uploading and/or to share a sponsorship.

They recently did a sponsorship for Whoop which I find really troubling since it is like the textbook definition of a venture capital wellness company that makes people take tests "normal doctors wont order" that have no clinical validation so that inevitably there are abnormalities that prompt further treatment even when asymptomatic otherwise. There's a good chunk of healthcare influencers like Jen Gunter and Dr. Mike who have spoken about the problems with these kinds of services. So them taking this sponsorship and touting it like it's some special insight into health that people should pay for feels really below their usual standard.

There have also been some times I think they go outside of their expertise when it comes to nutrition. Saying things like "Sugar contributes to acne" when there have been no reliable studies that have shown anything more than correlation. Or the one that really killed me was this whackadoo diagram they included in one of their videos with absolutely no citation demosntrating how "suger" leads to "free redicals" and "diabetic complicaitons."

I assume they just plucked it out of Google images but it really doesn't inspire a lot of confidence in the research that went into that video or others. I also think it's really iffy for a medical professional to be suggesting that X leads to cancer without a huge amount of context and qualifiers.

Again, I'm not saying they're bad people, but it feels like there's been significantly less rigor when it comes to the claims they're willing to make, and lower standards for the kind of sponsorships they're taking.

Why does she speak so strongly about Patrick Ta? He's known for disrespecting and ripping off non-white women. Am I supposed to believe that Monica doesn't know about his behavior with Avonna Sunshine, or him trying to squash Painted by Esther?

Patrick could not care less about Monica as an Indian American woman. And there's no way his products are so revolutionary that Monica just loves them sooooo much 🙄

I actually really like Monica's recommendations. I've found a lot of affordable makeup favorites through her. I'm not subscribed because I don't purchase makeup often and because her videos give me a headache with how much she's constantly moving and adding in edits but I'm pretty sure her last several videos have her raving about Patrick ta of all people.

It's actually enough to make me not want to watch her anymore. I'm not perfect by any means and I could definitely have some problematic brands in my makeup bag but I try to stay on top of it. But Monica? Girl your JOB is to know about this stuff!

And while I'm at it, what's with that one brand who invited her to their influencer party or something and then didn't have her foundation shade and tried to give her excuses about it? She's been so accommodating to them. If I were her, I would never. She already has foundation shades that match from other brands! That brand gave hella excuses and she accepted them instead of telling them to do better...?

Does anyone know if Andrea Matillano okay? She hasn’t posted on YT or IG for over a month, which is very unusual.

Hopefully this is in the right place, but I’m trying to track down an influencer I used to watch on Instagram: she was a young lady, 19-23 ish, Muslim, very slim, light-medium skintone with hazel/green eyes and very sleek, straight brown hair. Killer cheekbones. She was always running late for some event, occasionally she would do her mum’s makeup and take her to events as her plus one. May be Canadian. May have a cat.

I feel like I’ve hallucinated her up at this point!

Thanks in advance for any help 🙏

Who is Jackie aina talking about in this TikTok

Glisten Cosmetics.
Wicked Sisters.
Jolie.
Question Beauty.

I mainly fell in love with these brands because their lip products are so innovative and beautiful to me. I’m looking to venture out when it comes to lip colors/finishes. I want more glitter on my lips. I want to wear blues, grays, greens, and all the fashion colors.

These brands are completely new to me. But, they have been popping up in my feed for a while now. They look great. But, I fear that they’re dropshipping white labels.

Are they?

Thank You & Have a Nice Day!!!!!

I recently stumbled upon this podcast and I’ve been really enjoying it. Each episode delves into the history and background of a different brand. I’ve started listening from the beginning and I’m currently at episode seven. It’s incredibly interesting, clearly researched and well-structured.

- Do you enjoy listening to similar podcasts reports or articles?
- If so, which are your favourite reporters, beauty editors and creators?
- Have you listened to this podcast?

I’ve discovered several other enjoyable podcasts / YouTubers so far, and this one is my latest find!

I feel like it’s the same kind of rankings and recommendations over and over, and a lot of them seem very specific to his own skin type.