Sephora, Charlotte Tilbury Among Gen Z's Top 10 Beauty Brands

Bella Hadid for Charlotte Tilbury, the second-biggest brand among Gen Z by UGC metrics. courtesy

Who’s winning the content economy?

Beauty as a whole is a winner, with data from Gen Z research and strategy firm Dcdx showing the category outpaces travel, restaurants, consumer packaged goods and even fashion when it comes to engagement and consistency of user-generated content.

More specifically, brands including Sephora, Charlotte Tilbury, Dior Beauty and E.l.f. Cosmetics are seeing success, earning top spots in Dcdx’s ranking of the top beauty brands by organic UGC engagement and consistency among Gen Z social media users this summer.

According to the report, “Get Ready With Me” videos are the most engaged-with content type within the beauty community, followed by product reviews, lifestyle videos and beauty tutorials and trends, respectively. Beauty content overall saw a mid-August swell in engagement — more than doubling the pace of beauty engagement in May — as back-to-school content surged.

Interestingly, the top 15 brands in beauty drove 50 percent of the category’s conversations. Sephora took the top spot with a Gen Z score — which is Dcdx’s proprietary metric measuring UGC performance among the group — of 85.24 out of 100. The 15th-biggest brand, meanwhile, was clean beauty indie Saie, which scored 66.36.

Other retailers made the list as well, with Ulta Beauty ranking number 21, while Bath & Body Works ranked number 31. A number of legacy brands, however — Neutrogena, Old Spice, Manscaped and Cetaphil among them — are seeing a lag in UGC engagement among Gen Z, data shows. In an effort to drive momentum among the cohort, Cetaphil tapped Gen Z star influencer Katie Fang, best known for propelling Glow Recipe’s Watermelon Glow Toner to the limelight years after its debut, as an ambassador in September.

The top 10 brands by engagement and consistency of organic UGC by Gen Z social media users, per Dcdx, and their Gen Z score out of 100.

1. Sephora: 85.24

Sephora courtesy

2. Charlotte Tilbury: 82.24

3. Rare Beauty: 79.78

Rare Beauty Soft Pinch Liquid Blush courtesy

4. Dior Beauty: 78.96

5. Maybelline New York: 75.46

Maybelline New York Super Stay 24H Skin Tint courtesy

6. E.l.f. Cosmetics: 75.44

E.l.f. Cosmetics Power Grip primer +4% Niacinamide courtesy

7. Nars Cosmetics: 75.34

Nars Cosmetics Light Reflecting Advanced Skincare Foundation courtesy

8. Rhode: 75.18

9. Benefit Cosmetics: 72.26

Benefit Cosmetics The Porefessional Matte Pore Minimizing Primer courtesy

10. ColourPop: 72.08

ColourPop Pretty Fresh Hyaluronic Hydrating Foundation courtesy