Beauty Bloggers

A couple of examples of some instructional "How To" videos that are hugely popular are cosmetics tutorials by users such as Elle Fowler (AllThatGlitters21) and Blair Fowler (Juicystar07). The two girls are sisters who each have hundreds of videos on their channels featuring product reviews, tutorials, and discussions of make-up related topics along with thousands of subscribers. They were recently featured on Good Morning America and were both make-up artists at New York Fashion Week 2010; Blair is actually the youngest make-up artist to appear at Fashion Week.

They began as normal users, with no professional make-up training. One reason Blair gives for starting her channel is that her sister told her not only was she giving make-ups tips to viewers, but they in turn were giving her tips back. The are essentially building a collective intelligence through interacting and sharing tips, strategies, and opinions with other users. Their tutorials which have been viewed hundreds of thousands of times have helped them earn lots of opportunities with national cosmetic and beauty publications and companies.

Here's an example of a video produced by Blair; both girls film and edit the videos themselves:



And here's a video produced by Elle; it was posted about a week ago, and it already has 230,000 views:


While the sisters aren't the first to make these types of videos, nor the last, they've become the most popular, not because of what they are explaining, but how they explain it. I learned about these girls through a friend of mine, Brandy, who's absolutely obsessed with watching their videos. When I asked her to explain why she prefers to watch Elle and Blair over other "beauty bloggers" she writes, "Their versions of explaining things in a 'how-to' concept is a lot more than, 'Okay do this, this, this and this.' They both add a lot of personality to their videos which is one of the reasons I believe they got so successful." The girls are open to opinions and welcome advice. They are also easy to relate to; Brandy says that Elle is the same age with a similar style, while Blair has a similar skin tone and hair color. It's easier for the young women and teenagers to relate to these normal girls, rather than celebrity stylists. Elle and Blair provide a personal and realistic aspect to their videos.