The ranking of the top makeup brands with the biggest organic social media impact in the US versus one year ago has experienced some notable shift according to data based on CreatorIQ’s Earn Media Value, an indicator that estimates monetary value of a brand’s organic social media activity.
Coming first is Huda Beauty that moved from sixth position a year ago, with an increase of 60% in earned media value. In June 2025, Huda Kattan bought back full ownership of the brand from PE firm TSG Consumer Partners, which had held a minority stake since 2017. This move was followed by a new product launch strategy designed around social virality. For example the Easy Bake Pressed Powder relaunch at the beginning of the year went viral even before hitting shelves with its PopSocket phone accessory with an attached mini pressed powder.
Rare Beauty, Selena Gomez’s brand, raised from ninth to second, with a gain of over 55% during the period. Interestingly, part of this raise could be attributed to better offline availability as Rare Beauty entered all Ulta Beauty stores in the US in February, its first US retail expansion since its Sephora launch. It broke Ulta’s all-time record for first-day brand sales and claimed the number one spot across blush, highlighter, contour, bronzer, lip and brow categories within 48 hours.
NYX is the other significant mover. It went from fourth at 66 to third at 83, a roughly 26% increase, placing it ahead of Charlotte Tilbury, which held relatively steady in terms of EMV but fell from second to fourth.
e.l.f. which was the top brand in May 2025 dropped to seventh in April 2026 with a 15% reduction in its EMV. The brand’s acquisition of Rhode may have shifted internal focus and creator investment. ColourPop and Fenty Beauty also dropped out of the top ten, replaced by Morphe and Makeup by Mario.
Interestingly, contrarily to the skincare ranking I published yesterday where K-Beauty brands drove a lot of the disruption the makeup ranking remains dominated by large Western makeup brands with the one notable exception being Huda Beauty.