The last couple of years have certainly been busy for drama and tea spilling enthusiasts in the beauty community and beyond. With scandals like Kat Von D versus Jeffree Star in 2016, Laura Lee's tear gate in 2018. And in 2019, we got a two-for-one combo with the James Charles rollercoaster and Jaclyn Hill's mold on a stick. And the year is not even over. I feel like we should be paying someone. Because the beauty community provides better entertainment than literally everything that's on Netflix right now. You could argue that it's all meaningless. At the end of the day, it's just lipstick. But is it really? What magical power does this red cream in a tube hold beyond our knowledge? Why is it so magnetic to the masses, keeping them hypnotized into consuming an evergrowing supply? Empires built on the illusion that you too can look just like the gods and the goddesses on billboards and screens all around you projecting a highly edited standard. Wilfer, I think it's up to US to uncover the mystery. But first, I wanna say a quick thank you to Skillshare for sponsoring this video. It's always super helpful to have outside sponsors, especially with the risk of getting demonetized after hundreds of hours of work on an animated video like this. So I'm glad to be working with them again, but we'll talk about it more at the end of the video. For now, let's get back to our story. To do that, we have to go back in time. And I don't mean just by a few years. I mean WAYYY back to ancient times. There's tons of documented instances of some kind of cosmetics being used in the form of rituals all over the world. In Persia, China, Japan, the European continent, Australia, and the Americas. Some ancient ingredients used as makeup include beeswax, egg white, ground nuts, honey, minerals mixed with animal fat, and a lot of poisonous substances, such as lead or mercury. The Greeks, for example, used perfumed oils to smell nice, and they had fancy hairstyles. I mean, just look at Hercules. Don't you dare tell me he just woke up like that. But they also commonly applied a white, lead based substance on their face. What they probably didn't know was that it was totally toxic and the repeated exposure would cut their lives shorter by a few years. So, was it worth it? Hashtag Do It For The Gram, i guess. Roman women as well used a colored powder as eyeshadow. In Persia, cosmetics were regarded as medicine. Whereas, in China, Mongolia, specific colors indicated social class. Egyptians used cosmetic products mostly for slowing down signs of aging, as well as for health reasons. And of course, Egypt gives us two of the most iconic beauty figures in history. Aphrodite, famous for her sickening eyeliner, as well as Cleopatra, some 1300 years later. Equally known for her beauty. Even though most of what we imagine her to look today is probably nonsense. In reality, she was described as "having a stronger personality and charming wit rather than physical beauty" which is a very diplomatic way of calling somebody ugly Regardless, it's clear that makeup has had a strong presence throughout history. Dating far back to the earliest documents we have, the main difference was they weren't exactly using top notch FDA approved formulas. Okay so some of you have been sending me pigeons to complain about my eyeliner. Saying you're getting sick after using it, some of you have gone blind, and I just wanna say the eyeliner only contains led. Okay? It's not my fault you're not using it properly. Come to think about it, not much has changed. Later on, in the MIddle Ages, religion contributed heavily to the negative view on makeup, Though it was still being used in some for or another. In fact, both women and men would apply dangerous substances to their face which conveyed lighter complexions. Some people took it even further. Like Maria Clement, for example, would draw blue lines on her face to signify that she had blue blood. By the end of the 19th century in America, women were purchasing beauty products in secret. Makeup was seen as bold and immoral at this point. So manufacturers had to plan to the demans for digression by packaging it with plain brown paper. Fun fact, Wilfur also receives a lot of brown paper packages. And I'm not sure not sure what they contain. What do you think is hiding in these? One of the greatest American success stories of the early 20th century is that of Madame C.J. Walker. It's an amazing story that I recommend you look into. In the early 1900s, seeing how the black community was largely ignored by beauty manufacturers, she started going door to door selling her own hair care products, made specifically for African-American women. Before long, she was able to open a factory, creating jobs for many other women. And in just a few years, she had hundreds of agents going door to door selling her products. At the time of her passing in 1919, she was considered "the wealthiest self-made woman in America". In other words, she was the Kylie Jenner of her time. *beep boop* *beep boop* With the 1920s and 30s, along with women entering the job market, but especially with the don of Hollywood glamour, we see a big shift in attitude towards cosmetics. Makeup is now a sort of symbol of freedom and independence from the ways of the past. Magazines have a double role at the point. For one, to advertise makeup products to women who become increasingly drawn to them, and secondly to teach them how to use them. The how-to method played a big role in the growth of the industry. It was at this point that Max Factor, a movie makeup artist that polished the scene completely changes the game by leveraging his connections in Hollywood to get celebrities to endorse his products to the masses. Using the slogan, "the makeup for the stars and you". A revolutionary idea in a world where competition is now fierce. And if you think about it, that's also what's happening today on Instagram. With big brands reaching out to celebrities and influencers to promote their products to their millions of followers. But at the time, this was unheard of, and it's one of the main reasons why Max Factor was able to build a giant business that would continue to thrive long after the founder passed away. In the coming decades, tendencies kept shifting. New trends were replacing old ones, but one thing remained unchanged: the fact the beauty industry was booming. According to this book that I'm gonna put on screen right now, by 1948, 80 to 90 percent of adult American women were wearing lipstick. The industry was only getting started, and as advertising became a crucial part of it, drama, once again, found her sweet home. For instance, when Clinique was launched, they elevated the game with their skincare line, achieving great commercial success and attracting a lot of envy from the competition. Revlon, an equally successful brand at that time, known for aggressive business tactics, attempted to steal and follow Clinique's recipe and launch a similar product called 'Etherea', but Clinique was like, "Ah. Oh, no, you don't." And after finding out the name of Revlon's upcoming release, they used it in their own promotional materials ahead of the official launch. Thus, sabotaging Revlon and resulting in Etherea being a giant flop. We can see controversy has always been tied to cosmetics. So it's easy to see why in today's age, the beauty community on YouTube is the perfect environment for drama to erupt. Maybe it was less so in the beginning, when beauty gurus were uploading their first videos, like Michelle Phan, Marlena Stell, Zoella, Jackie Aina, Jaclyn Hill, GiGi Gorgeous, just to name a few. Just like in the 1920s, magazines published how-to articles. The YouTube beauty gurus also got their start doing how-to videos and makeup tutorials, providing free education and entertainment to makeup enthusiasts. And established a strong connection with the fans. But as this connection became monetizable, large brands started investing in beauty channels, it became LESS about teaching and MORE about selling. It became a norm for every beauty guru to have a line of makeup, whether in partnership with the big brands or developing their own company. In recent years we see names like James Charles and Jeffree Star become so big that they are now competing with traditional makeup brands. With the age of social media, the influence is shifted, well, to the influencers. And nobody navigated this cultural shift better than Kylie Jenner. By using the spotlight she had by association to her infamous family, she became a sort of celebrity influencer hybrid, setting a new standard for anybody working on a cosmetics brand. Sure, she may not have as authentic a self-made story as Madame C.J. Walker, but her achievements are no less impressive. What's interesting to note is in the same way Madame Walker was going door to door to sell products individually, Kylie has just as direct the connection to her customers without even leaving her home. With one, single Instagram swipe-up story, she's likely to sell tens of thousands of products. You have to admit, the internet is amazing. In recent years, more celebrities started to see the profitability of the influence of beauty industry. And the most notable, is Rihanna, who, in 2017, took the world by storm launching her brand, Fenty Beauty. By bringing a wide range of shades for a variety of skin tones, the brand was named one of the best inventions of 2017. And in less than 2 years since the launch, Fenty Beauty is now worth over $3 billion according to Forbes. Makeup has become so profitable in today's age, and more and more celebrities are drawn to it. Most of Rihanna's estimated $600 million net worth comes, not from her music, but from her beauty brand. Recently, Lady Gaga has also joined the game by launching HAUS Laboratories. And it's very likely that by next year, she will be one of the top players in the industry as well. So here we are, at this point where the beauty scene continues to grow and makeup brands are popping up like mushrooms. Some great, some not so great, and some just straight up cash grabs. In 2017, the cosmetics industry was worth $532 billion globally. And that number is expected to rise up to $805 billion by 2023. With so much money in the industry, you can't help but ask yourself, "What's next?" Which brands leading the market today are going to fade away? And which currently inexistent ones will change the game tomorrow? One thing is certain: it's more than just lipstick, and it's not going away anytime soon. So, are you gonna tell me what's inside of these? Wait what? Since when do you have your own makeup palette? Wilfur, how did I not know about this? What is this? Oh, it's an online course: strategies for e-commerce success. That's right! You too can build an empire just like Wilfur has. And this is the perfect moment to thank Skillshare, the sponsor of today's video. Skillshare is a fantastic platform with thousands of premium online courses where you can learn new hobbies, and even turn your passion into a successful career. Right now, I'm really into this course by Parker Gard, called "Strategies for E-Commerce Success" where he takes you step by step through the process of building an Etsy store and earning some cash from selling handmade products you're passionate about. If you're good at crafting, it's definitely worth giving it a try. And even if you're not, there's lots of good information in here about E-Commerce and how you can start your own online business. I find it a lot helpful even if you don't have an Etsy store. By signing up for Skillshare using my custom link down in the description, you will get a 2 month free trial that you can use to watch as many courses as you want. I'm really happy to be working with Skillshare again because they they really bring a lot of value to you guys. And I've been getting a lot of great feedback from some of you who have already started using the platform. Definitely recommend checking it out if you haven't already Thanks again Skillshare for sponsoring this video and thanks to you for watching and supporting what I do here. Wilfur and I are gonna see you again, vEry soon. watch this video s u b s c r i b e like the video make sure to download Skillshare using the link !!! thanks for watching :D
