Inside the Explosive Growth of Instagram’s Niche Beauty Creators

On Instagram, specificity is key.

Data from Dash Hudson shows creators who focus on niches — aging skin, curly hair care and fantastical makeup looks, to name a few — are seeing more rapid growth on Instagram than their mega-influencer or generalized-content counterparts.

“We’re seeing it with the types of folks that brands want to work with and where brands are seeing the most impact with their marketing campaigns — it’s those creators with more niche followings that are winning,” said Jillian Robinson, director, global communications and events at Dash Hudson.

The 10 fastest-growing Instagram beauty creators — whose following sizes range from 20,300 (makeup artist @helloadri) to 554,000 (aesthetician student @mattrandon) — have seen an average 1,122 percent increase in followers in 2023. Beauty as a whole — brands included — saw 6.4 percent growth during the period.

“Creators who post about skin care tend to be the fastest-growing,” said Dash Hudson customer insights manager Quinn Williams, naming @addicted_to_face, who creates skin care content for a 40-plus consumer, as one example. Creators like @brittminetti and @makeupnco, who post about curly hair and makeup launches, respectively, are managing to cut through the noise, too.

“Instagram is very saturated — there are thousands of brands, and [the platform] has been around a long time, but it’s promising to see that there’s a demand for new creators to the market,” said Williams, adding that creator content receives 16 times more engagement than brand content on Instagram.

The 10 fastest-growing beauty influencers on Instagram year-to-date, per Dash Hudson.