The birth of social media brought about a wide visibility for the beauty industry. Creating a virtual meeting ground for makeup artists and makeup lovers.
From YouTube and Pinterest to Instagram and TikTok, beauty and makeup influencers have been steadily dishing out makeup content and of course, we love them for it.
Today, we'll be looking at some of the top social media makeup influencers in the UK and if you're interested in carving out a career path as a makeup influencer online, then you can draw some inspiration from some of the celebrity names we'll be sharing in this post.
First on our list of iconic makeup influencers in the UK is Atara Mayhew. The English Tiktok star came into the limelight in March 2022 for posting a makeup video and tutorial where she let a filter pick out her makeup look for the day. This video received over 60 million views catapulting her into fame. Before that, Atara had been posting makeup content on social media since 2019, when she made her debut post on TikTok on the 20th of October 2019. That post featured a pink-themed eye makeup look.
Atara is known for her extreme cosplay costumes, many of which are Halloween or Christmas-inspired. She also recreates looks from popular TV shows like Avatar and Betty Boop. She has gathered quite some following for herself with these constant posts of unique makeup looks with a massive 1 million followers on Tiktok, over 600k followers on Instagram and over 4 million followers on YouTube.
Dubbed the most influential makeup artist in the world by Vogue, Dame Patricia Anne McGrath is one makeup artist who sure knows how to merge unconventional makeup processes to create unique looks that end up becoming a trend. For example, she recently created a runway glass skin makeup look that sent social media into a frenzy and so far, many makeup influencers like Keilidh Cashell have jumped on the trend.
Pat McGrath is famously known for creating runway looks for luxury brands like Versace, Calvin Klein, Bottega, McQueen, Burberry, Prada and Dior just to mention a few. And has worked for 20 years creating looks on the cover of Vogue Italia alongside working in hundreds of shoots around the world yearly. That's not all, In addition to owning her makeup brand Pat McGrath Labs, she also works as the Beauty Editor at Large for British Vogue since 2017 and is the first makeup to receive the highest honour of the British Fashion Council award in the same year 2017.
To know how influential she is, Queen Elizabeth II awarded her the title of Dame of the British Empire for her services in the Fashion and Beauty Industry and is the first makeup artist to ever receive such recognition.
Her influence in the makeup world doesn't just end in the UK but cuts across the US, Italy, France and many other countries and even into the online space. With a massive social media following of over 5 million followers on Instagram and over 360k followers on TikTok.
Lydia Fowler is an Instagram sensation and a pro makeup artist who specialises in creating timeless bridal looks. The 30-year-old Kent-based makeup artist amassed quite a following on social media with over 400k followers on Instagram and 300k followers on TikTok for sharing simple yet relatable makeup routines and tutorials where she reviews certain makeup products. This has earned her influencer status as her fan base seems to love her videos.
Before she hit internet fame, Lydia had been posting since 2012 and had actively been posting on TikTok since 2020. However, it was one of such videos she posted on TikTok in 2023 where she revealed to her followers that she struggled with IBS which eventually blew her up, gathering over 1 million views on that singular post.
Lydia's makeup style is mostly bridal style or everyday makeup looks and she creates a lot of these looks using products from Kylie Cosmetics, especially their lip wear. Knowing how much of a fan base Kylie Jenner has, it's safe to say most of Lydia's followers are Kylie fans too.
Makeup artist extraordinaire Lisa Eldridge is one of the most sought-after professional makeup artists in the world. Before Instagram and TikTok, Lisa had been sharing makeup tutorials and product reviews on YouTube with over 2 million followers making her one of the first internet beauty sensations. She works mainly with celebrities, creating their stunning red carpet looks, and Avant Garde makeup looks for editorials and runway shows. You can find people like Jada Pinkett Smith, Jennifer Lopez, Kim Kardashian, Emma Stone, and Dua Lipa just to name a few among her client base.
Not only is she a pro makeup artist, but also the author of a bestselling book Face Paint, and has an award-winning makeup brand named after her. Some of her brand awards include the Harper's Bazaar Best Beauty awards for 2022 and 2023 in the product category of Best Lip liner and Best cleansing balm respectively.
The English makeup artist is as famous online as she is offline with her massive 1.9 million followers on Instagram and over 50k followers on TikTok.
Jamie Genevieve is a Scottish makeup artist and founder of the makeup brand VIEVE which she launched in 2020. Her brand is unique because all of her products, from eyeliners to bronzer and lipsticks are vegan and cruelty-free.
Due to her successful makeup business and brand, the Glasgow resident was awarded a spot in the Forbes 30 under 30 list of 2023.
Jamie before venturing into the business side of makeup was a YouTube star with over 900k followers, sharing makeup looks and other makeup content on the platform which kick-started her social media influencer journey. Currently, she's more active on Instagram and TikTok and true to her influencer status has 1.3 million and over 380k followers on both platforms respectively.
A pro makeup artist and contributing beauty editor at Liberty London, Cher Webb is a famous makeup artist known for her 20+ years of makeup artistry career. She has worked with MAC for 10 years starting from the shop floor and working her way through the various departments to becoming a Senior Artist Ambassador for MAC, a role she stayed in for another 10 years working with different celebrities, red carpet events and fashion and award shows such as the BAFTA awards and British Fashion Awards.
But in the last 5 years, Cher took a break from working for others to focus on building her makeup brand where she presents live masterclasses and tutorials, sharing her extensive makeup knowledge and experience with her followers and subscribers. This new path of hers has earned her influencer status with over 500k followers on Instagram and 37k followers on TikTok.
In July 2020, Hannah Martin was dubbed "the queen of radiant skin and smokey eye tutorials" by Vogue and rightfully so. This beautiful British makeup artist has been in the makeup industry for well over 20 years and is the go-to makeup influencer if you want to learn about how to create beautiful makeup looks while caring for your skin.
In her 2 decades of being in the beauty business, Hannah has worked with several celebrities and even royals including glamming up Princess Eugenie on her wedding day. If she's not working on supermodels or the faces of royalty, you'll also catch Hannah sharing tips, tricks and tutorials on how to achieve different smokey eye looks on her Instagram with her 379k and 11k followers on Instagram and Tiktok.
Kadeeja Khan is a beauty blogger of Afghan descent but was born and raised in the UK. She became famous online for sharing unfiltered photos and videos of herself in makeup which given the time and the fact that she has lots of acne and acne scars was record-breaking. In a world where many influencers hid behind edited makeup pictures Kadeeja did just the opposite earning her a massive following and an award as the "Keeping It Real Influencer" for 2020. To date, she still shares makeup tutorials with her 391k followers on Instagram and 42k followers on TikTok.
The England-born and New York-raised celebrity makeup artist Katie Jane Hughes is famous for her works both online and offline. Katie specialises in editorial makeup and has worked on several publications like Glamour, Elle, Vogue Russia and Harper's Bazaar with celebrities such as Ashy Graham and Whitney Port.
Whenever she's not busy working editorial shoots, you'll catch Katie sharing makeup inspiration videos of bright-coloured eyeshadow looks, skin-like makeup looks and new blush, bronzer or highlighter techniques with her online fan base. Katie's celebrity makeup artist status can be seen as reflected in her huge online following of 886k followers on Instagram and 238k followers on TikTok. And
Keilidh Cashell is undoubtedly Ireland's most-followed makeup and beauty influencer. Keilidh is famous for creating dramatic makeup looks featuring colourful eyeshadows, Halloween, ethereal, mystical dark smokey grunge makeup looks which she shares with her 2.7 million followers on Tiktok and over 500k followers on Instagram.
Aside from being a social media makeup influencer, keilidh runs her very own brand KASH which produces vegan and cruelty-free makeup products which received a warm welcome from her followers.
40-year-old London-based bridal makeup artist Khodayari and her 8-year-old daughter Kassie have become internet sensations for doing the unexpected where Kassie does makeup looks on her mum and herself.
2020 was when Khodayari first made a post where Kassie had makeup and false lashes on and that video blew up but for the wrong reasons. After the backlash they received, Khodayari didn't post again till March 2021 when she posted a video of Kassie showing a follower proof of her doing a pink eye look on her and a blue one for her mom.
That video also gathered millions of views and that's how their beauty-influencing journey began. Since then Khodayari has gone on to share videos of her and Kassie wearing twin makeup looks on their joint social media pages with over 4.5 million followers on TikTok, 3.4 million on YouTube and over 600k followers on Instagram.
This young British beauty influencer Rebekah Eller is one to watch out for. Born in England, and easily one of the rising stars in the makeup influencing space, Rebekah shares makeup videos featuring alien glam looks, bold eyeshadows and even product reviews on her socials which has gathered quite some following with 223k on Tiktok and 123k on Instagram.
The famous Tiktoker Frankie Darling describes herself as a vegan and cruelty-free makeup artist. Frankie is known for her distinct eye looks ranging from emo to bright florescent shades and sparky vintage glam. She shares her makeup videos documenting her application process from start to finish with her 209k Instagram followers and 207k TikTok followers.
Jenna is a British makeup influencer and has struggled with her weight for the longest time which inspired her to use makeup as a channel for body positivity. Jenna specializes in creating alien-themed cosplay type of makeup looks and has gathered a massive 1 million followers on TikTok and 104k on Instagram just for sharing these unique makeup looks.
Last but certainly not least in our list of social media makeup influencers in the UK is one of the Welsh twin brothers, Robert. Robert Welsh has worked as a professional makeup artist for 17 years while living in London. He was also one of the first beauty creators on YouTube, gathering over a million subscribers on the platform. More recently Robert has taken his makeup influencing to TikTok and Instagram where he shares makeup tips and other educational content to help his followers differentiate between false and real makeup trends. And he must be doing something right because his TikTok has 340k followers and 343k followers on Instagram.
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