Top Beauty Instagram Influencers

When it comes to beauty products, the days of heading to a department store and paying big bucks for a lipstick or moisturizer you may or may not love are over. Instead, people are turning to their favorite Instagram influencers to get the inside scoop on which items are worth the investment. These guys and gals test the products themselves, share their findings and help health and beauty companies increase their sales.

Some of these Instagram influencers have even partnered with some of the biggest names in the beauty industry or created their own beauty lines. When they’re not selling products, they’re teaching their followers how to use highlighter correctly, how to pick the right color nail polish and which conditioner is best for their hair type. Oh yeah, and they’re helping companies reach their target markets.

If you’re searching for an Instagram influencer whose focus is beauty, we’ve compiled a list of some of the hottest people out there right now.

Jeffree Star (jeffreestar)

Jeffree Star has over 14.8 million Instagram followers, but that’s no surprise considering he’s began building his following back when MySpace was the hottest social media platform around.  In October 2019, Star revealed that he teamed up with Shane Dawson to launch a new cosmetics collection called Conspiracy.

Michelle Phan (michellephan)

Michelle Phan started as YouTube vlogger back in 2007, and today, she has over 2019 Instagram followers, along with the name recognition needed to be one of the top influencers in the beauty industry. Phan not only helped found Em Cosmetics, but she’s also the founder of the popular Ipsy makeup subscription service.

James Charles (jamescharles)

At the age of 17, James Charles became Cover Girl’s first male model. A few short years later, he’s a self-taught makeup artist with over 15.9 Instagram followers and even more YouTube subscribers. In the meantime, he’s walked the runway at LA Fashion Week, created his own eyeshadow palette and appeared in an Iggy Azalea video for which he also did the makeup.

Huda Kattan (hudabeauty)

When Huda Kattan grew tired of her job in finance, she started a makeup blog. Today, she’s one of the beauty industry’s biggest influencers with over 39.4 million Instagram followers. Kattan’s life came full circle when she founded her own cosmetics line, Huda Beauty, which put her back in the role of businesswoman. Vogue named the Dubai-based makeup expert a “Woman of the Year” in 2019. She also has her own Internet reality show Huda Boss.

Naomi Giannopoulos (vegas_nay)

She has over 6.9 million Instagram followers and a makeup artist career that spans two decades, but those are just a few of the reasons why Naomi Giannopoulous is one of our favorite Instagram beauty influencers.  She got her start working on makeup for weddings and photo shoots and went on to attend Polimoda Fashion School in Florence, Italy, where she earned a Master’s degree. Her online presence started as a hobby, but it led to a whole new world of becoming a top influencers and even creating her own eyelash line.

Zoe Sugg (zoesugg)

Zoe Sugg is the true definition of a self-made woman. She spent her twenties building her online presence from the ground up. It all started with beauty and fashion haul videos on YouTube, and today, she has over 9.6 million followers on Instagram. Sugg also founded the brand Zoella, which includes a series of lifestyle and beauty products. She’s developed a 70s-centric cosmetics line with  ColourPop Cosmetics, written a few novels and even created a photography app.

Nikkie de Jager (nikkietutorials)

With over 12.7 followers, or “glow babies” as she calls them, Nikkie de Jager is one of Instagram’s hottest makeup artists. The Queen of Glow got her start in 2008 by posting makeup tutorials on YouTube. The rest, as they say, is history. Based in the Netherlands, Jager launched a makeup line in collaboration with Ofra in 2017.

Jackie Aina (jackieaina)

When Nigerian-American Jackie Aina was in the U.S. Army Reserve, she found that her plan to study medicine didn’t excite her the way makeup did. Instead, of going to med school, she took a job with MAC Cosmetics. As of 2019, she’s not just a beauty influencer with over 1.9 million followers on Instagram, but she’s an advocate for people of color. Over the last few years, Aina has created multiple beauty products in collaborations with brands like e.l.f. Cosmetics, Sigma Beauty, and Sephora.

Jaclyn Hill (jaclynhill)

Jaclyn Hill has over 6.1 million Instagram followers and nearly as many YouTube subscribers, making her a multichannel social media sensation. Like Aina, she got her start as a makeup artist working for MAC Cosmetics before taking her own tutorials online. She’s filmed makeup how-tos with stars like Kim Kardashian West. Throughout the years, Hill even collaborated with several cosmetics companies to create her own products. She’s currently working on relaunching her own cosmetics line, Jaclyn Cosmetics.

Search for even more influencers to help your brand with IZEA’s Influencer Discovery tool.