Unless you’ve been living on a deserted island without WIFI for the past year, chances are you’ve double clicked, watched and possibly even followed along with a beauty YouTuber’s makeup tutorial or two or three or seven. You’re not alone. According to Statista, the top six, global YouTube beauty channels scored a collective, whopping 92 million subscribers in 2018 with Mexico’s teeny tiny Yuya and her adorable rolling rrrs topping the list at 22 million.
Like cat videos, our love affair with everything glossy, smoky, wet, dry, frizzy, flat-ironed, curled, highlighted, shimmer lighted, contoured, lined, plumped and so much more (seriously, this list could go on forever), is only growing. Online beauty videos surged from 55 in 2016 to 88 in 2017 (thanks again, Statista), and it’s not just the bigwig beauty brands owning the space. Individual vloggers, like 18-year-old makeup artist and COVERGIRL beauty spokesperson James Charles, 26-year-old Maybelline male ambassador Manny Gutierrez and 25-year-old L’Oréal Paris spokesmodel Jake-Jamie a.k.a: The Beauty Boy, control 97 per cent of all videos highlighting how to get your pretty on.
So while this year’s remaining five A-listers Wengie, Zoella, NikkieTutorials, Musas, Jeffree Star are clearly watch-worthy, we think you should add these five YouTubers to you favourites list.
Rae Morris
This Australia has painted everyone from songbirds Kelly Roland and Pink to mega models Miranda Kerr and Doutzen Kroes.
Lisa Eldridge
Refusing sponsorship ties to any one cosmetics brand, this British artist shows and tells it like it is.
Violette
A Parisian makeup artist living in New York City, this one-name wonder adds a certain amount of je ne said quoi to each oh-so chic application.
Angie Di Batista
Who better than a Canadian to offer no-nonsense, practical and useful tips and tricks.
Jaleesa Jaikaran
Transplanted from Trinidad, this NYC’er dishes her makeup know-how with a behind-the-scenes perspective.
