“Hiii guys! Welcome back to Voices: it’s Chloe here, bringing you all the latest tips, tricks, and trends in the beauty sphere! Today, we’re diving into beauty influencer culture, the appeal for it and the toxic dynamics of that sphere and trust me, you don’t want to miss this tea. So grab your favourite drink, get comfy, and let’s reflect together! Now, let’s get into it!”

More seriously for those of you that ever watched beauty youtubers I’m sure that such an intro gave you some flashbacks, you may even feel some nostalgia just as I do when I think about my “beauty guru” phase. I don’t exactly remember when this phase started and how I discovered those who were going to become my favourite beauty youtubers, however, I can tell you that the peak of my phase was the summer of 2018. Indeed, a Youtube series about Jeffree Star was about to come out and I just couldn’t wait to watch it. I still remember watching it, and waiting patiently each week for the new episode to come out. Now, if you are familiar with the Youtube beauty sphere you must have heard of Jeffree Star, or James Charles, for example, and I can bet that you didn’t hear about them only in positive ways. Though at the time I was quite oblivious to all the dramas, I mean I knew about them in some ways, especially due to the apology videos that would be posted after each scandal. Still, I would make do with the information provided in the videos and move on with my life, without even trying to find out more about the reasons that led to the creation of these apology videos. At the same time, I also never was one of those hardcore fans that would defend my favourite influencers at any cost. 

Some of you might wonder what could attract someone to watch such content, especially hearing about all the controversies existing in this sphere of YouTube. Well, I think it would be safe to say that for many the appeal obviously comes from the lifestyle displayed by such youtubers in their videos. That is extravagant houses, an abundance of luxury products, clothes from the most expensive brands, perfect bodies and faces. Another element that might have attracted people, just like my 15 years old self, is the makeup style. In my case, I was experimenting with my makeup style with very colourful and bold makeup looks, and I felt like what I liked was not represented enough by the French beauty influencers that were popular at that time. For non-Americans, I think watching these videos gave a sense of the American dream, many products used to seem inaccessible, especially if you were a teenager. Furthermore, I feel like most beauty gurus proclaimed themselves as self-made, as people that went from having nothing to suddenly having everything that one could ever dream of owning, which can give the impression to the viewer that in some hypothetical future they could live the same life as their favourite influencers. 

However, as I already mentioned, behind this polished, perfect and shiny vision that we are sold as the audience can be found unspoken controversies, personal scandals and toxic dynamics. Apart from the unrealistic standards that they present us as being perfectly normal, there are also much more problematic elements that are kept well hidden, most notably racist pasts. The miracle solution to all these issues once they start to become known to the public: apology videos. I’m sure everyone has seen such a video once in their lives, generally they have the same recognisable characteristics. Neutral background, no makeup/natural makeup, a hoodie and most importantly fake crying. All these elements combined make the perfect apology video, some look so fake and out of touch that they have become viral, as sources of comedy.  

I know that I explained that I would watch those videos without paying much attention to the reasons behind the apology videos, which probably is the case for a lot of people. However, no amount of apology videos can indefinitely save one’s career, particularly in cases where the apologies are just PR (public relations) moves. So, it is natural for the audience to eventually lose trust and therefore interest in those who once were their favourite influencer. In the past few years, I feel like the hype for beauty influencers has drastically decreased since the peak of the 2017-2018 era. One of the causes that probably started this decrease is the series of dramas among the YouTube beauty community commonly referred to as “dramageddon”. In case you aren’t familiar with it, let me quickly introduce it to you. To put it simply, “dramageddon” is a series of dramas that took place around 2018-2020 involving several popular beauty influencers of the time. I encourage you to do your own research about it in case you’re interested, as it would be quite complex to explain every detail of each drama. It was also during this time that I started to lose my trust and interest in these beauty gurus. Finally, the rose-coloured glasses began to fade and I could see the cracks in the curated appearances and personalities that I became acquainted with. 

Since then, the way I consume beauty/makeup content has changed. Indeed, both the amount of makeup content I consume and the amount of beauty gurus I follow have drastically reduced. While I still hear or check once in a while what is going on in their lives and in which new controversies they put themselves into, those who used to be my icons just don’t hold the same appeal to me anymore.

Chloe Gaschy

Sources:

r/BeautyGuruChatter Wiki: Dramageddon Timeline

Apology video – Wikipedia

What happened to the beauty gurus of early YouTube?

The Downfall of the YouTube Beauty Community – The Courier Online

content (The American Dream: Understanding the Charismatic Capitalism of the Beauty Industry – Federica Ferradino M North American Studies Radboud University Nijmegen)