How to Become a Beauty Vlogger

Long gone are the days where you had to sign up for an expensive course in order to learn the delicate craft of applying makeup. Nowadays, thanks to beauty vloggers, you can get all that information (and plenty of other makeup-related advice) for free on YouTube and become a beauty vlogger yourself!

Beauty vloggers have become increasingly popular throughout the years, and it’s no secret that more and more aspiring YouTube creators want to become beauty vloggers so they can share their skills with fellow makeup enthusiasts. And if you want to succeed as a beauty guru on YouTube, you’re in the right place. We have created a comprehensive guide containing everything you need to know about how to become a beauty vlogger.

While it might seem like an easy endeavour, there is a lot more to beauty vlogging than it meets the eye, so we have covered everything from equipment to channel promotion. 

To learn how to become a beauty guru, just keep on reading.

Find Your Niche

Even though there are plenty of channels that cover everything related to beauty and hair, it’s a good idea for YouTube beauty gurus to find their niche at the beginning of their vlogging journeys. This will help you stay focused, stand out from other beauty channels, and attract a loyal audience right from the get-go.

Source: Nikki Tutorials

To find your niche in the world of beauty vloggers, ask yourself the following questions:

What are you good at doing? If makeup is your forte, then consider focusing on tutorials and product reviews. If you are a hairdresser who wants to switch from a 9-to-5 to beauty vlogging, then you may want to focus on hair tutorials and hair care tips.

What kind of content do you enjoy seeing the most? If there are certain types of videos you really enjoy watching, chances are you will find those videos fun to film as well, which will make your journey to becoming a beauty guru a lot easier.

What does your audience want? It’s always a good idea to do your research prior to creating a YouTube channel. Find out what types of channels do well on YouTube and what makes them so appealing to viewers. You will be a few steps ahead if you already know what the audiences of already-established beauty vloggers enjoy watching.

Now that you have a grasp on what kind of videos you would like to make, it’s time to talk about essential equipment.

Beauty Vlogging Equipment

Finding the right equipment is a crucial step when learning how to become a beauty vlogger.

Beauty vloggers are known for their sit-down videos. While you can always get creative with different types of set-ups, this particular genre will require you to make more sit-down videos, which means you will need a few filming essentials for your “beauty studio”. 

There are four pieces of equipment that you will need to invest in at the beginning: a quality camera, a mic, lighting, and a tripod.

Camera

If there’s one thing we’d recommend you to invest in at the beginning of your beauty vlogging career, it’s a high-quality camera. And high-quality doesn’t always have to equal expensive. Take, for instance, the Canon PowerShot SX620 . It costs around $250, yet it has full HD quality and a 20.2 megapixel sensor along with an LCD screen, so it’s one of the best beginner (and budget) friendly cameras on the market.

If you can afford to purchase a camera that’s a bit more expensive at the start, we recommend the Panasonic Lumix GH5 for any aspiring makeup guru . Even though it costs around $1,300, it’s definitely a worthwhile investment. You’ll get 4K ultra HD quality with 60 fps which will make your makeup look outstanding on the screen.

Another option is to use your smartphone at the start. Keep in mind that the better camera you have on your phone, the better videos you will create. And if there’s one thing viewers appreciate when watching beauty gurus, it’s the video quality.

Mic

As you already know, the camera you will opt for will already have a mic. However, if your budget allows for it, we highly recommend purchasing an additional mic for your videos. By doing so, you will have more control of the audio and will be able to easily remove or reduce background noise.

The Blue Snowball is a very popular mic option among beauty vloggers. It delivers crisp and clear audio, so you won’t have to worry about the audio quality in your videos. Additionally, no software is required in order to install it, so it’s really easy to set up and use, especially if you’re a beginner.

If you’re on the lookout for a USB mic, then the Blue Yeti is the way to go. You can use it in four modes, and the audio quality at the end is outstanding. If you want a more detailed recommendation list, check out our 2020 mic guide!

Lighting

When filming makeup tutorials, lighting is key. If you can, use natural lighting during the day, but let’s face it, you won’t always have the option of filming videos during the day. For that reason, you can purchase artificial lighting and place it in the room where you film your videos.

You can find plenty of ring light kits that come with all the lighting equipment you will ever need like a remote and power adapter. The Neewer 18-inch white ring light is an amazing option. Purchasing a professional socket light is also an option, although it might take up more space. Our recommendation is the HPUSN Softbox lighting kit .

Tripod

A tripod keeps your camera safe while filming, allows you to adjust the filming angle easily, and you can even film yourself while walking. It’s certainly not necessary at the start, but it makes filming a lot easier.

You can find plenty of tripods on Amazon, like the Joby JBO1503 gorilla pod . Keep in mind that you can always use alternative equipment, or even get creative and improvise with books or boxes.

Create a YouTube Channel

It goes without saying that in order to become a beauty vlogger, you need to create a YouTube channel first. Luckily for all aspiring beauty gurus, YouTube has made this step short and simple. If you want an in-depth guide on how to create a YouTube channel, check out our How to Start a Vlog and Become a YouTube Vlogger guide.

Before creating your channel, make sure you become acquainted with YouTube’s policies thoroughly.  

Film Your Beauty Vlogs

Now comes the fun part – actually sitting down to film your beauty vlogs. Even though filming videos will likely come naturally to you (especially if you’re an outgoing person), here are a few tips about filming your beauty vlogs that will hopefully help you along the way.

Source: Christen Dominique 

Utilize natural lighting. We have touched on this topic before, but make sure you utilize as much natural lighting during the day as possible. It’s easy and simple – all you need to do is move your filming set up next to the biggest window in your home and start filming. This is especially important if you’re filming makeup tutorials or any YouTube makeup videos for that matter.

Make sure your speech is clear and loud. There’s nothing worse than filming an entire video only to find out that you were speaking so quietly that you can barely hear yourself. To avoid this mistake, speak up or invest in a quality microphone. Make sure to always check the audio quality after filming for a few minutes before proceeding to film the rest of the video.

Don’t be afraid to branch out and share something personal. Yes, your audience is there to learn about new makeup techniques and tricks. However, that doesn’t mean that you should shy away from showing your personality on camera. Your viewers will appreciate seeing a different side of you, which will make it easier for them to connect to you. Feel free to throw in a personal anecdote, a funny joke or story, or something your audience doesn’t know about you.

Pay attention to the background of your videos. When it comes to YouTube beauty gurus, one thing that always stands out is their background of choice. Beauty vloggers always seem to have a good grasp when it comes to the best background to use, and if there’s one thing we can learn from them is – the less, the better. Having lots of clutter, decorations, people, colour, or furniture in the background of your videos will distract your audience, making it harder for them to pay attention to what you’re saying. Always follow one rule of thumb – make your backgrounds as minimalistic as possible. You don’t have to sit in front of bare, colourless walls, but do pay attention to any potential clutter that might not look so good on camera.

Mind your body language. Most communication is non-verbal, and how you carry your body can say a lot about your character and confidence. Here are a few simple tips to follow: make sure you sit or stand up straight with your shoulders back, use open body language, and relax your facial muscles.

Don’t be afraid to make a script, but don’t rely on it too much. Having your entire video scripted can make it come across as unnatural. Instead of sticking to a rigid script, write down a few pointers you’d like to talk about in your video and fill the rest of the video with whatever topics come to mind.

Edit Your Beauty Vlogs

You have all the footage you need for a video, but now what?

Here are a couple of beginner-friendly editing tips that might come in handy to anyone who aspires to become a beauty vlogger.

Become acquainted with the video editing program of your choice. Fortunately, you don’t have to pay hundreds of dollars for video editing software since most computers come with their own. Whether you do decide to make use of a free video editing software, or you would like to invest in a paid one, you should become acquainted with it before you continue to import your footage and proceed with the editing. For a detailed guide on the best vlog editing software, check out our article on the topic.

Source: CharmieJanee

If you’re a beginner at editing, don’t go all-in from the start. It can be tempting to use various different editing styles when starting out with your YouTube channel. This can easily lead to a messy and unwatchable beauty vlog, so try your best to keep things simple at the start. As long as your audio and video quality is satisfactory, don’t put too much pressure on yourself to make your videos extra creative until you get the gist of editing.

If you’re filming makeup tutorials, don’t forget to include a close-up of the finished look. It’s really important to include a close-up of your makeup at the beginning and at the end of your video. Make sure you film these close-ups in good lighting and include shots from different angles.

Do close-ups of each product you’re using. It’s one thing to tell your audience the name of the products you’re using in a video, but they usually want to know how the product looks as well. In order to save time, you can film a close-up of each product when you finish filming your video instead of standing up each time to hold a different product.

Promote Your Channel

Promoting your channel is a crucial step if you want to reach a bigger audience. Keep in mind these few things when promoting your channel to the world:

Take advantage of social media and hashtags. Whenever you upload a new video, share it on all your social media platforms and use appropriate, SEO-friendly hashtags in the description. Speaking of social media, you should also utilize Facebook and Instagram ads – it’s one of the easiest and most cost-effective ways to reach more people across multiple platforms.

Be consistent with your uploads. Not only will your viewers appreciate regular uploads, but so will YouTube’s algorithm. You will more likely get new subscribers if they see that you remain consistent with your uploads. This is where having an upload schedule will come in handy.

Get the hang of SEO. Behind every successful makeup guru channel is amazing SEO. It’s one of the crucial steps of learning how to become a beauty vlogger. An easy way to make your channel more SEO-friendly that doesn’t require much time is to optimize your video titles. You can download apps like Google Keyword Planner or Keyword Tool to help you with this. When you compile a list of top-ranking keywords, make sure to include them in your titles, tags, and descriptions.

Use trending topics. YouTube beauty gurus should ideally always keep track of current topics and trends. You can use resources such as Google, other YouTube videos, or popular websites that talk about makeup and beauty. By making videos on topics that are trending, your videos will more likely get recommended to potential new subscribers, thus attracting a larger audience to your channel.

Include giveaways on your channel. If you aren’t familiar with giveaways, it’s basically a small-scale contest that allows you to give back to your audience. YouTube beauty gurus usually include prizes such as makeup or cosmetics in their giveaways, and all their subscribers have to do in return is follow a few simple rules like subscribing to their channel and commenting under their video. Giveaways naturally attract new subscribers (let’s face it, we all love getting free stuff), and it’s also a clever way to get people who regularly watch your videos but aren’t subscribed to you yet to do so. The influx of comments will increase the video’s engagement, so it’s a win-win situation for both you and your subscribers.

Create multiple playlists. If you have the time, you can compile a few playlists on your channel that have different themes. That way, your subscribers can access your videos easily without having to search your channel, and you can get more views on your existing videos. Don’t forget to name your playlists so you don’t confuse your viewers.

Interact with your audience on YouTube and remind them to like/subscribe. If you have the time, respond to some (or all) of the comments on your videos by either leaving a comment or a like back. Also, don’t forget to remind your viewers to subscribe, like, and comment on your videos. This will increase the interaction on your channel, which is always beneficial for promotion purposes.

How to Get Products to Review as a Beauty Guru

Source: Hailey Sani

One thing every beauty vlogger wants to know is how to get companies to send them their latest products. After all, to become a beauty vlogger, this is an essential part of the job.

When it comes to getting new products to review, you can either take a passive or an active approach.

The passive approach requires you to leave your business email at the top of your description. That way, when a marketing employee watches a video on your channel, they can easily reach you and offer you new products in exchange for a mention or review.

The active approach requires (you guessed it!) – taking action and reaching out to companies that you want to work with. Send a couple of friendly emails where you tell them your name, your channel niche, as well as contact information, and offer to give a review or a shootout in exchange for a couple of product samples. You never know – the company might end up sponsoring your entire video. Bonus tip: you will have a higher chance of landing a collaboration if you reach out to companies that have already sponsored fellow YouTubers in your niche.

More Beauty Vlogging Tips

Here are a few more vlogging tips for anyone who wants to become a beauty vlogger:

Listen to your audience’s feedback. Acknowledging and implementing constructive criticism is one of the best ways to grow your channel and increase the quality of your videos. Listen to what your audience has to say and take in any suggestions for improvements they might have.

Be true to your personality. Viewers appreciate honesty and transparency, and that goes for your personality as well. Even though “be yourself” is a cliché advice, doing so will really make your channel stand out in the sea of other beauty vloggers.

Collaborate with other YouTubers. Content creators have taken advantage of collabs since the beginning of vlogging. It’s one of the easiest and fastest ways to promote and grow your channel, and you will be helping out a fellow content creator in the process too.

Source: James Charles

Have some fun. YouTube beauty gurus often get too wrapped up in numbers and statistics that they forget to have fun with their videos. Make sure you avoid this mistake so that you can have a pleasant YouTube journey from the start. 

Beauty Vlog Ideas

Apart from the standard hair and makeup tutorials and product reviews, what are some novel beauty videos to film? Whether you’re an experienced beauty guru that has run out of ideas or you want to become a beauty vlogger and are creating your content list, here are some video ideas:

Tag videos. Every makeup guru needs a good tag video on their channel. Tag videos feature a set of questions that have to do with makeup and beauty, and all you have to do is sit in front of the camera and answer them in a particular order. It’s one of the best ways to allow your audience to get to know you a bit better. Popular tag videos include the Ride or Die makeup tag, the Would You Rather makeup tag, and the This or That makeup tag.

Get-ready-with-me’s. There are two ways you can go about filming get-ready-with-me videos: you can either film yourself getting ready for a particular event or occasion and edit the video like you would a makeup tutorial, or you could do an uncut version where you upload a longer video and casually chat to your viewers throughout. Either way, it’s a fun video idea and viewers love getting ready alongside their favourite makeup guru.

Empties. Viewers love seeing beauty gurus talk about the products they like, so why not film an entire video about the products you’ve emptied out recently that you’re a fan of?

Challenges. There are plenty of challenges that go round the YouTube beauty guru community, like the Drugstore makeup challenge, so why not take advantage of them?

Do other people’s makeup. Convince a close friend or relative to appear on your video in order to spice things up. Your viewers will learn new things and get to see you interact with the people who are close to you.

Morning/Night/Skincare routine. We are creatures of habit, and that applies to beauty routines as well. Film your regular routines and satisfy your viewer’s curiosity regarding your holy grail products and daily habits.

Source: Bethany Mota

New releases. If you like being on trend with new releases, why not get your subscribers in the game as well? When you purchase new products, share your first impressions of those products with your audience.

We hope you found our how to become a beauty vlogger guide helpful and informative. Have we inspired you to become a beauty vlogger and create your own makeup channel yet?

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Last update on 2024-11-16 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API. Our editors may earn a small commission if products are purchased via our external partner links.