With so many different influencers and gurus to follow, we narrowed it down to our top 5 favorites! These beauty gurus came from humble beginnings and were able to cultivate and create a following in the last 7 years. Did your favorite make the list? If not, comment down below and share their instagram and youtube with us!
At Chic Studios, our Digital Beauty Influencer course takes some of these influencers’ aspects to help you define your brand and elevate your social presence. We teach you how to build your social media as a mini portfolio for your clients and followers.
Read more, take notes, and hopefully we’ll be seeing your name as a “must-follow” beauty influencer!
Lisa Eldridge
Lisa Eldridge is one of the most experienced and respected makeup artists in the international fashion and beauty industry. Born in 1974, she was raised in New Zealand and Liverpool, England where she discovered makeup at the age of six years old and then received a book of theatrical makeup for her 13th birthday. She had her first big break when she was booked by ELLE Magazine to work with supermodel Cindy Crawford. Today, she is a widely renowned pro make-up artist, creative director, and author with a huge online presence! At Chic Studios, we keep several of her inspiring books on hand for students in our classroom. Her youtube channel (which has a 1.7 million subscribers), not only features videos of herself, but makeup looks on women of various skin tones and ages. Eldridge also maintains a high editorial profile as the current creative director for Lancôme, working across product development, advertising campaigns and digital strategy.
Nic + Sam Chapman (PixiWoo)
When it came to choosing a career path, Sam and Nic Chapman were destined for makeup artistry. Growing up in London, their aunt was a top makeup artist working for clients like David Bowie and Princess Diana. Their mother was also interested in makeup and would always try out the latest trends and create innovative looks. After working with amazing brands like MAC, Estee Lauder, and Chanel– the sisters built a reputation as respectable makeup artists in the industry. The first Pixiwoo video was created in 2008 when Sam was pregnant and her friend wanted to learn how to create a smokey eye. Immediately, people everywhere began to find Sam’s video and request more since Youtube was still growing at this time. The two sisters began to collaborate and create videos about makeup hauls, product reviews, celebrity inspired and runway looks. In 2011, the idea of Real Techniques was launched and has taken off in the US, UK, and around the world. Real Techniques brushes are one the favorites at Chic Studios and exclusively found in students’ makeup kits. Sam and Nic continue to grow as top makeup artists, writing columns for national magazines and newspapers, appearing on major network television as beauty experts, and editing their own digital magazine.
Hung Vanngo
Nicknamed Hung Van Glow, his style of makeup has always been about skin and beauty. Hung Vanngo started his career in Canada and never stopped rising to the top. Our Director, Amy Nicole once worked on a makeup project in Canada before starting Chic Studios. Vanngo rarely shares details of his personal story, preferring instead to let his work do the talking. His creativity was inspired at a young age where he loved to sketch and paint. His devotion to art helped him develop a refined hand and keen eye for color and composition. Today, he’s working as a celebrity makeup artist for Hollywood’s elite like Selena Gomez and Kate Bosworth. He even shares his techniques with 700k followers on Instagram where he pushes the idea of natural and pure skin rather than an airbrushed finish. We can’t wait to see more of his latest endeavours!
Angel Merino
Angel Merino a.k.a Mac Daddyy is a self taught makeup artist who made a big splash on Instagram. He became interested in pursuing a career in the beauty industry at a very young age following his role as a dance instructor at local dance studios. Merino started in retail at MAC Cosmetics yet stayed on top with the latest technology. By doing so, he was on Instagram in the early stages and posting makeup looks while still working at MAC. His following was rapidly growing, so he quit his job to focus solely on Instagram. He currently has 1.3 million followers on Instagram and is CEO of his own cosmetic brand, Artist Couture. Along with that, he travels around the world teaching master classes and being featured as a keynote speaker at the biggest makeup conventions and expos. Chic Studios was honored to have him come to an event at our LA location for our graduates and students. As one of most popular beauty influencers, he uses his voice to advocate rights for the Latino and LGBTQ+ community and inspires his followers to “hustle and glow.”
Tati Westbrook
If you’re regularly on Youtube, you will be very familiar with Tati Westbrook aka GlamLifeGuru. With 3.2 million subscribers, she creates daily videos on monthly favorites, makeup hits and misses, as well as new drugstore product reviews. Before trying her hands at Youtube, she was an image consultant and a Hollywood makeup artist/stylist. The beginning stages of her channel were to teach women about makeup and provide beauty tips, tutorials and advice. As her channel grew so did her following, and she gave up her full time job to focus on creating videos. She reviews products by testing their claims; every makeup product that she tries must have her stamp of approval. If she doesn’t like something, she’ll let you know with her unbiased opinion, which we love about her! At Chic Studios we tell our students the same– keep it real. She showcases products with various price points: her WTF and OMG videos compare high-end products with the local drugstore ones, showing plus points of both products. She earned the runner-up award for ‘Allure Beauty Blogger of the Year’ and was even named Women’s Wear Daily YouTube Breakout Beauty Star. Westbrook is frequently featured in the world’s leading editorial magazines like Glamour, Allure, and Cosmopolitan.