Most cosmetics influencer marketing advice stops at "work with micro-influencers" and "be authentic". We wanted to see what the biggest cosmetics brands actually do, so we pulled the 50 most recent sponsored posts for each of the most-searched cosmetics brands in the US and looked at who posted, how each deal was disclosed, and which posts took off.

Here's why cosmetics brands work with creators, the commonalities in their strategy, and a step-by-step way to run your own campaign.

Why cosmetics brands use influencer marketing

Creators do a few things for cosmetics brands that ads and product pages can't:

• Shades have to be seen on skin. A lip or blush shade looks different on every skin tone, and a product photo can't show that. 12 of NYX's last 50 sponsored captions name the exact shade the creator is wearing, so followers can buy the same one.
• Tutorials make a product easy to use. A new bronzer or blush is less intimidating once you've watched someone apply it. A full-face tutorial from an Italian creator listing every Fenty Beauty product in the look got 1.3M plays.
• Creators show the deal. Makeup is an easy impulse buy when the price is right, and creators can say exactly where to find it. Two of NYX's last 50 sponsored posts send followers to Costco for a four-pack of Butter Gloss, "4 lip glosses for under $20".
• Packaging gives creators something to film. A PR box that looks like something else makes people stop scrolling. A Huda Beauty PR drop that a creator filmed as a burger "takeaway delivery" got 791k plays.

Top cosmetics brands using influencer marketing

These are the most-searched cosmetics brands in the US, according to Ahrefs. Deal types show how each post was disclosed (for example, with a paid partnership label or an ambassador hashtag). Creator tiers: micro 10k–50k followers, mid-tier 50k–500k, macro 500k+.

1. Glossier: makeup for busy days

Glossier's makeup posts sell speed. 9 of its last 50 sponsored captions promise makeup for busy days, from the "easiest brow routine ever" to Futuredew for days "when I don't have the time or energy for a full face". 3 feature Boy Brow, including GRWMs with a creator's mom and brothers. 32 of its 47 creators are in the US, and none of the posts use a code.

• Creators: @nyc_forfree (788k), @sophia_sasso (101k) and @veryharryhill (83k) are among the creators who've posted for Glossier.
• How posts were disclosed: 35 paid partnership, 9 gifted, 5 ambassador, 1 unspecified

What to take from it: Let creators bring their family into the GRWM. A creator with 83k followers had their brothers try Boy Brow in a "BRO BROW" video, and it got 250k plays, three times their following.

2. Charlotte Tilbury: unboxings, red carpets and a game collab

Outside its Magic Cream relaunch, Charlotte Tilbury's posts lean on unboxings and big moments. 10 are unboxings or PR hauls, 3 open its Starfell collection made with the game Genshin Impact, and 4 come from events, from a Pillow Talk activation at Space NK to makeup artists' looks for the BAFTAs and a Vanity Fair party. Most of its creators are in the UK, and it's the only brand of the five whose creators share personal discount codes.

• Creators: @cyrusveyssi (1.2M), @urshaynesss (365k) and @xandistyle (206k) are among the creators who've posted for Charlotte Tilbury.
• How posts were disclosed: 31 paid partnership, 14 gifted, 5 affiliate

What to take from it: Ask followers to vote. A creator with 206k followers put two looks side by side, concealer with blush or concealer with bronzer, and asked followers to pick one. The post got 44k likes, about a fifth of their following.

3. Fenty Beauty: summer bronzer and blush launches

Fenty Beauty's last 50 sponsored posts are built around summer face products: 9 feature bronzer, including the May launch of its Sun Stalk'r Soufflé cream bronzer, and 15 feature blush. One account with 2k followers posted 12 times, 7 of them about its Shadowstix eyeshadow sticks. It books bigger creators than the others (a median of 225k followers), its creators are based in the UK (7), the US (6) and Turkey (3), and none use a code.

• Creators: @giuliadelellis103 (5.6M), @ashleedaymua (153k) and @charismastev (305k) are among the creators who've posted for Fenty Beauty.
• How posts were disclosed: 33 paid partnership, 14 gifted, 2 ambassador, 1 unspecified

What to take from it: Treat a launch post like breaking news. A "new @fentybeauty product alert" from a creator with 305k followers introduced the Sun Stalk'r Soufflé bronzer and got 2.0M plays and 23k likes, Fenty's most-viewed post.

4. Huda Beauty: a two-week wave of PR boxes

All 50 of Huda Beauty's last sponsored posts went live between August 28 and September 10, and 29 were labeled as gifted, the most of the five. 17 are unboxings or PR hauls, with 9 posts about its Easy Bake powder and 4 about its new collection with Cardi B. Its creators are based in the UAE (9), India (7) and the US (6). None of the posts use a code, but 9 send followers to a link in the creator's bio.

• Creators: @yashitank05 (1.9M), @makeupbysamanthaharvey (355k) and @styled.by.alia (47k) are among the creators who've posted for Huda Beauty.
• How posts were disclosed: 29 gifted, 14 paid partnership, 6 affiliate, 1 unspecified

What to take from it: When a small creator's first post takes off, book them again right away. Huda Beauty booked a creator with 47k followers three times in five days, and the posts got 768k, 667k and 445k plays.

5. NYX: a lip launch in every market

28 of NYX's last 50 sponsored posts tag a local NYX account, from NYX UK to NYX Serbia, and its creators are spread across 17 countries. 9 launch its Smushy SOS Hydrating Lip Masks, and 11 feature its Butter line of glosses, blushes and highlighters. 7 were labeled as ambassador posts, the most of the five, 14 of its creators are in the US, and none use a code.

• Creators: @rawanandrayan (5.2M), @rebeccamaurino (361k) and @itsteaart (18k) are among the creators who've posted for NYX.
• How posts were disclosed: 29 paid partnership, 9 unspecified, 7 ambassador, 5 gifted

What to take from it: Launch in every market at once, with local creators. Three creators in Serbia posted the new Smushy SOS lip masks within two days, and the one with 18k followers got 149k plays, about eight times their following.

What the top cosmetics brands have in common

Looking across all 250 posts, four patterns stand out:

• Unboxings are a format of their own. 31 of the 250 posts are unboxings or PR hauls, more than half of them Huda Beauty's.
• Smaller creators get more out of their audience. Across 192 posts with visible likes, creators under 50k followers got a median of 1.8% of their followers liking the post. For creators above 50k, it was 0.7%.
• Lips lead the launches. 66 of the 250 captions mention a lip product, from glosses and stains to lip masks and liners.
• Views don't follow follower count. A Fenty Beauty bronzer post from a creator with 73k followers got 256k plays, while one from a creator with 1.7M got 202k.

How to run a cosmetics influencer marketing campaign

Here's how to run a campaign step by step, using what the top cosmetics brands do at each stage.

1. Pick one goal and one metric

Decide what the campaign is for before you pick a single creator, because the goal changes who you book, how you pay them and what you ask them to post. The top cosmetics brands' posts show both goals at work. Charlotte Tilbury's personal codes and Huda Beauty's bio links are built to drive sales. Fenty Beauty's bronzer launch and NYX's lip mask rollout are built for reach.

• Sales: track revenue per creator with a unique link and code.
• Awareness: track views, saves and reach per post.
• Average order value: makeup sells in combos, so compare the average basket each creator brings, like a liner and gloss pair from a NYX #lipcombo post.

Pick one metric per campaign so you can compare creators fairly afterwards.

2. Find and vet creators who fit your brand

Follower count is the last thing to filter on. A beauty review account with 23k followers unboxed Huda Beauty's new lip collection and walked through the shade range, and the post got 29k likes, more than the account's whole following, because shade range is what lip buyers want to see. Across all five brands, creators under 50k followers got about two and a half times the likes relative to their audience.

Our survey found niche micro-creators are outperforming mega-influencers: nearly 60% of marketers said niche influencers performed better in 2025 than in 2024.

• Write down who buys your product (drugstore makeup fans, people who struggle to find their shade, makeup artists) and look for creators living that life.
• Search Modash's database of 380M+ creators and filter by audience demographics (age, gender, location), bio keywords, engagement rate and fake-follower checks.
• Or describe that creator in plain language, like "creators who unbox makeup and swatch every shade", and Modash's AI creator search surfaces matching creators on the platform you're searching.

• Check who else they've posted for. @glambyghiz posted for both Charlotte Tilbury and Huda Beauty, and for Gucci Beauty too. Modash shows which brands a creator has already posted sponsored content for.

You can also find cosmetics influencers for free, for example by searching the hashtags your buyers follow.

3. Choose the deal type

The top cosmetics brands split between paid posts and gifting. Fenty Beauty and NYX disclosed 33 and 29 of their last 50 posts as paid partnerships, while Huda Beauty labeled 29 as gifted.

• Gifting works for launches creators will want to unbox on camera, like Huda Beauty's Cardi B collection.
• Paid posts suit launches that have to land on a date, like a new shade range or a summer bronzer.
• Affiliate works for creators who already share shop links, like Huda Beauty's affiliates linking products in their bio.
• Ambassador deals suit creators who post makeup every week and can work each new launch into their usual looks.

Commission-only is getting harder to sell, though. Over 23% of marketers in our survey said creators would take performance pay only if a flat fee came with it. If you run tiers, the average commission tiers in our affiliate research were 10%, 14% and 19%, and brands with more than one tier had more active affiliates.

4. Brief the content formats that work in cosmetics

The captions from the top cosmetics brands point to three formats that carry most of their creator content:

• Unboxings. Huda Beauty's and Charlotte Tilbury's creators open PR boxes and try the new products on camera. Ask creators to swatch at least one product before the video ends.
• Shade picks. NYX's and Huda Beauty's creators line up several shades and ask followers to pick a favorite. Send two or three shades so creators have something to compare.
• Get ready with me. Glossier's and Fenty Beauty's creators do their full face on camera and list every product they use. Ask creators to name each product and shade in the caption.

Whatever the format, give creators the exact shade names to tag and one partner hashtag, like #nyxcosmeticspartner or #glossierpartner, so followers can find the same product.

5. Launch with tracked links and time-limited codes

Charlotte Tilbury was the only brand of the five to use discount codes, in 12 posts. Huda Beauty's creators point to a link in their bio instead, and Glossier, Fenty Beauty and NYX used no codes at all.

Codes also leak. In our affiliate marketing research, 47.6% of marketers said they struggle with code poaching, where a creator's code ends up on coupon sites.

• Give every creator a tracked link for everyday posts, and add a code only for launches and sales.
• Put an end date in the caption so followers know the offer won't last.
• If creators use "comment for the link", make sure the link they send by DM is their tracked link.

In Modash, each creator gets a tracked link and a code tied to your Shopify data, so sales from DMs, bios and stories all count toward the right person. Commission is calculated on net revenue after refunds and returns.

6. Rebook your best creators

The top cosmetics brands rarely rebook: only 18 of their 219 creators posted more than once. That's a missed chance in makeup, where new shades and collections drop every few weeks and a creator followers already trust is the fastest way to announce each one.

Most marketers want to do more of this. In our influencer marketing trends survey, over 60% said they plan to invest more in long-term partnerships, but only 54% actually ran more of them last year.

• Start new creators on a single post, then offer a longer deal to the ones who hit your metric from step 1.
• Use revenue per creator, not likes, to decide who gets rebooked. Modash's campaign dashboard shows revenue, orders and ROAS for each creator.
• Give rebooked creators something new each time, like a new shade, a limited collection or a seasonal look, so their posts don't repeat.

Where cosmetics creator programs go wrong

The top brands avoid a few mistakes that trip up smaller programs:

• Sending one shade to every creator. A foundation or concealer in the wrong shade can't be worn on camera, so the post either never happens or looks off. Ask each creator for their shade before you ship, or send the shades either side of it.
• Offering commission-only deals to established creators. In our survey, 63% of marketers said influencers were open to becoming affiliates in 2024. In 2025 that fell to 26%. When you reach out to established creators, offer a flat fee plus commission rather than commission alone.
• Running the affiliate program on autopilot. In our affiliate research, marketers who were "very involved" with their affiliates had 71.5% of them active. "Very hands-off" marketers had 10%. Affiliates post when you give them a reason to, so check in every month with something new to share. For cosmetics, that could be a new shade, a limited collection, or a look to recreate.
• Sending affiliates old product. 93% of marketers gift products to affiliates, but almost 30% don't refresh them when something new launches. Send every new shade or collection to your creators before it goes on sale.
• Letting creators filter the makeup. A beauty filter changes how coverage and color look, and UK ad rules treat filtered makeup ads as misleading. Ask creators to film without filters, so followers see what the product really does.

FAQ

How much does cosmetics influencer marketing cost?

It depends on platform, following and engagement. Micro-influencers often work for free product plus a fee in the low hundreds per post, or an affiliate commission. Larger creators charge more. Many brands start with gifting plus commission to test fit before committing to flat fees. To estimate what a specific creator is likely to charge, drop their handle into our free Instagram influencer pricing calculator.

Which platform is best for cosmetics influencer marketing?

Instagram carries most cosmetics creator work, and every sponsored post we analyzed for the five most-searched cosmetics brands ran there. TikTok is worth testing too: in our survey, marketers rated TikTok videos the highest-performing deliverable (53.2%).

Which cosmetics brands use influencer marketing?

Glossier, Charlotte Tilbury, Fenty Beauty, Huda Beauty and NYX are the most-searched cosmetics brands in the US, and all of them run active creator programs. See the breakdown above for who each one works with.

Should cosmetics brands work with micro or macro influencers?

It depends on your goal. A launch chasing awareness leans bigger, a conversion play leans smaller and more trusted. In the cosmetics posts we analyzed, creators under 50k followers got about two and a half times the likes relative to their audience size, so most brands should build their base with micro-influencers (10k–50k followers) and add bigger names for launches.

How do I measure cosmetics influencer marketing?

Track sales per creator with unique links and codes, then compare revenue against what you paid (fees, product and commission). Our engagement rate calculator and fake follower checker help you vet creators before you spend, and our guide to influencer marketing ROI covers the full calculation.

Start your cosmetics creator program

Find creators, manage relationships, pay them in 180+ countries and 36 currencies, and track every sale through Shopify – all in one place, with no fees taken out of creators' pay. Try Modash free, no credit card required – or browse the top cosmetics influencers to see who's already out there.