Another day, another celebrity beauty brand

Lauren Prattis, Audience Editor 

It seems like every time I turn on my phone, another celebrity is launching their “new” and “never-before-seen” beauty brand. From singers and movie stars to TV personalities, the beauty industry is one long red carpet rolled out for famous people who want to attach their names to a blush or a brush. 

These brand launches no longer feel special when everyone and their mother are doing it. For every “groundbreaking” new product, thousands more will take its place next week. 

From what I have seen online, celebrities conveniently team up with brands at the same time a new project of theirs is released. They know when the most eyes will be watching, so why not take that as an opportunity to make even more money?

The most recent example of this phenomenon I can think of is the launch of actress Blake Lively’s hair-care brand, Blake Brown. The press tour for her newest film, “It Ends With Us,” a movie about surviving domestic violence, was overshadowed by interviews about her brand — turning the conversation away from the film and into an infomercial. 

While I have to admit Lively has gorgeous hair, I highly doubt it is because she only uses Blake Brown products. For every public appearance she makes, there is a team of people whose job it is to make sure she looks and stays camera-ready. 

It is even more unrealistic when it comes to the makeup and skincare brands of Hollywood’s biggest names. It is one thing when a popular makeup artist launches a product line — it is another when a megastar invents an “exclusive” formula. 

One of the pioneers of capitalizing on insecurities through the lens of a “passion project” is Kylie Jenner. Her brand Kylie Cosmetics has hundreds of beauty products for physical self-improvement. 

Her claim to makeup fame was the launch of her lip kits near the end of 2015. At the time, she was most well known for her colorful makeup looks, specifically those on her lips. Capitalizing on a market of insecure people who wanted to look like her, she successfully launched a $35 lip liner and lipstick combination. 

Famous people like Jenner insinuate their products make them look the way they do, instead of the thousands of dollars worth of procedures and treatments. Those products are advertised as miracle solutions that promise to give everyday people a small taste of the “glamorous life,” but they always fall short. 

I am not suggesting it is some grand scheme by the wealthy to make people feel the need to change — but it undeniably fuels insecurity.

Normal people like myself do not have immediate access to miracle means of shape-shifting — so a more approachable solution is to dig in our pockets and try to achieve the newest trending look. Always trying to keep up with the newest trends can be damaging for one’s self esteem and bank account. 

More often than not, it feels like I am paying more for the names attached to the merchandise and the promises they hold instead of buying a new lip gloss because I ran out.