BEAUTY ON TIKTOK IS MORE THAN SKIN DEEP

SASCHA

I think in the past few years Instagram and YouTube in particular have become saturated with a lot of similar content. It’s often highly polished, with flawless beauty looks and, in my opinion anyway, it feels like there isn’t much leeway to do anything more on those platforms. It’s often dominated by the same people and they’re quite costly to work with, it doesn’t allow for these new voices to break through. TikTok is the opposite of that, it allows new voices and new faces to break through and people prosper from their own creativity rather than their reputation.

KEMI

On TikTok, users feel comfortable to film in their own homes, they don’t have to have a proper camera or whatever, and I think that allows for more varied work and for more representation, you see beauty content from all types of people showing products in totally different ways, showing things like texture and acne, things that other platforms like Instagram tend to shy away from.

SASCHA

Gen Z has a lot of purchasing power and that’s only going to increase. They don't want to see what they've already seen, these highly polished white people wearing flawless make up, they want to see people who look like themselves. They want to see makeup looks they can replicate, people who look like them and things that seem realistic. Gen Z sees through the veneer. Brands are going to have to follow suit otherwise they’re just going to fall flat on their faces.

KEMI

If a brand cares about what their audience thinks then they will adapt to that change. It’s kind of a similar shift to when brands moved from using celebrities to endorse their products to YouTube influencers. That same shift is happening again, people are moving from influencers on YouTube and Instagram to the smaller creators on TikTok who look like them, who use the product in the way they would, who have the same tax bracket, the same class. I started a haircare brand when I was at Uni for girls with curly hair. I started that on Instagram but in terms of TikTok, I would always go creator-led. When I engage with beauty brands online it’s less interesting to see one appointed person telling you to use a product, you want that diversity that creators offer.

KEMI

There’s no set definition and it changes depending on who you talk to but I think influencers are more posed and polished. I tend to associate them more with Instagram and YouTube. Creators are on TikTok mostly and their content is a bit more niche, a bit quirkier, it’s different to the picture perfect stuff you get on Instagram.

SASCHA

I don’t think influencers are on TikTok. There used to be a space for them but I think that age of TikTok is over to be honest. It’s grown so massively and the way it works you’re served people who are like you and it’s more centred around communities rather than serving the masses.

SASCHA

It’s so important. People use TikTok as almost a Trustpilot type of service. Personally, I’ll search reviews and ratings of products before I buy them and there’s always hundreds of people reviewing them, so you can find someone who looks like you actually using the product pretty easily. In that way, it’s bullshit proof.

KEMI

Audiences are way more critical now. There was a time, especially for me, when there was one brand doing foundation in my colour, and I had to buy a product out of necessity. But now there’s options and people are sharing their opinions and putting pressure on brands to produce what they actually want. Brands have to be more receptive because people will say how they feel and that will influence how people feel about it.