Millennials’ Lust for Makeup Is the Lipstick on Retail’s Pig<br />“The trips are being villainized in a way because people feel since we’re going on the trips<br />that we won’t be genuine about the products and our reviews,” said Samantha Ravndahl, a 24-year-old influencer from Canada with 2.4 million Instagram followers who has gone to Bora Bora and the Cannes Film Festival with cosmetics companies.<br />“It’s popular among millennials because it looks great in a selfie,” said Ms. Hertzmark Hudis, who also reported big jumps<br />in sales of skin care products — particularly masks, which play well on social media and video blogs, or vlogs.<br />The brand’s success illustrates the way that millennials — who may spend hours on social media platforms watching video bloggers<br />and following so-called influencers — are rewriting the rules.<br />When Ulta held a meet-and-greet in November at a store in Los Angeles with Jaclyn Hill, a YouTube beauty<br />personality, nearly 700 followers stood outside for hours — some even camped overnight — to meet her.<br />Revenues at Ulta Beauty, which sells both prestige<br />and drugstore brands and has been opening about 100 new stores annually in recent years, are expected to top $5.9 billion this year, up from $3.9 billion two years ago.<br />Estée Lauder’s Double Wear foundation, a product that was launched 30 years ago, is experiencing<br />double-digit growth rates, said Jane Hertzmark Hudis, group president at Estée Lauder.<br />In exchange, most influencers agree to post a certain number of YouTube videos or Instagram posts about the company’s products.
