From Tavi to Irene Kim, social media’s It girls are now owning the beauty world

millennial beauty clinique estee lauder
Photography courtesy of Estée Lauder

If today’s beauty news say anything, it’s that there are major changes coming in the world of campaigns. Where supermodels and leading actresses have traditionally ruled the billboards, it seems like the criteria to become a beauty ambassador as of late is a huge social media following and an all-around go-getter. A millennial baby? Even better.

Though the industry has gone obsessed with millennials like Gigi Hadid and Kendall Jenner (us included), it’s the leading digital influencers with no prior model experience that are making headlines these days. Beauty brands have long collaborated with bloggers and Youtube sensations for mini side projects. With thousands of page views and followers, they would be crazy not to. While we’ve only seen brand and blogger partnerships having only gone as far as Youtube makeup videos and editorial-like photos on Instagram, one has yet to go as big as featuring social media It girls in campaigns, until now. Cue Clinique’s entrance. The American beauty giant just announced that Rookie’s Tavi Gevinson, ShineByThree’s Michelle Zhang and HBFit’s Hannah Bronfman would take on roles as ambassadors and become the faces for the company’s famed three-step cleansing system. As millennials themselves, there’s no doubt they were tapped to win the hearts of their own demographic via Clinique’s new campaign #FaceForward. They also happen to be strong young ladies carrying multi-hyphenated titles, so there’s that. Changing the definition of beauty, the inspirational campaign features the three ambassadors ambassadresses calling out to young woman to feel confident, to strive for your dreams and basically “do you.”

Meanwhile, Estée Lauder has too introduced the world its newest millennial family member. Joining the likes of Jenner, Korean TV personality, model and social media star Irene Kim is the beauty brand’s new Global Beauty Contributor. But who’s Irene Kim you ask? Aside from being uber tight with top models (ie. Soo Joo, Liu Wen, Ming Xi – to name a few) and K-Pop stars (#nbd), she’s also a regular at Fashion Week and catnip for street style photographers (thanks to her ever-changing rainbow coloured hair). With Korean beauty making waves around the world, we’re not at all shocked to see Estée Lauder tap the Korean face to share fresh and fun beauty looks across its social media platforms. A staggering number of followers on Instagram doesn’t hurt either.

More Beauty & Grooming