Skip to main contentAll products are independently selected by our editors. If you buy something, we may earn an affiliate billion-dollar brands changed the beauty industry forever – and they all started with one, game-changing productWhether a swipe of your go-to red lipstick, a skincare serum that soothes and leaves you glowing, or a perfume that makes you smile with every spritz – anyone who loves beauty as much as we do will know that it can make you feel a million dollars. But for a few women, beauty has actually made them millions, if not billions, of this year, Forbes announced Rihanna as the latest beauty billionaire, estimating she is now worth $ billion, with the bulk of her wealth (around $ billion) generated from Fenty Beauty, of which she owns 50 percent. Rihanna joins Kylie Jenner, who was announced as the world’s youngest self-made billionaire by Forbes two years ago, after she sold 51% of her Kylie Cosmetics to beauty giant Coty Inc. for $600 million, while retaining ownership of the other 49% of the ImagesThen there's Honest Beauty, which was founded by Jessica Alba in 2015 as a spin off to parent company The Honest Company. Today, Honest Beauty has an estimated revenue of $ billion, making it the second highest grossing beauty business founded by a celebrity after Rihanna's Fenty Beauty. Stefanie KeenanHowever, it's not just celebrities that have cashed in. Many beauty billionaires have grown their empires from their craft or out of pure passion for products. Take Anastasia Soare, founder of Anastasia Beverly Hills, who immigrated to the United States from Romania almost 30 years ago and found work as a salon aesthetician, offering eyebrow treatments to clients. Her expertise, skill and now renowned “Golden Ratio” eyebrow mapping grew into an empire, attracting the world’s biggest celebrities including Naomi Campbell, Cindy Crawford and Oprah. In 2000, Anastasia launched a range of brow products that has grown into the range we all know today, valued at $3 ImagesBoth Charlotte Tilbury and Pat McGrath earned their stripes as makeup artists backstage at fashion weeks and on photoshoots for glossy magazines. Both bottled their experience into namesake makeup brands, which are now estimated to be worth $1billion there’s Emily Weiss, founder of Glossier, which is now valued at $ billion after launching the first four products just seven years ago. Having started a successful blog Into The Gloss, Emily channelled the close connection she had built with her readership into skincare products that understood the needs and wants of a new all of these brands now offer a vast array of products, with some branching out into different sectors altogether, they all started with one hero product – that one, game-changing formula that the world just couldn’t get enough of and which would act as a springboard for future we take a look at each one of those billion-dollar creations...Glossier launched in 2014 with a set of four core products; Soothing Face Mist, Priming Moisturiser, Balm Dot Com lip balm and Skin Tint, which focussed on creating healthy, glowing skin. Announcing the brand on her blog, Emily wrote, “Glossier begins with YOU, which is why our first products are all about letting your personality shine through…glowy, dewy skin… We’re laying the foundation for a beauty movement: one that celebrates real girls, in real life.” The skin-first ethos of the brand still exists to this day, with all four of the original products still BEAUTYHuda Kattan is the ultimate example of an influencer turned entrepreneur. She began growing her social media following with honest reviews and trend-setting makeup tutorials, which led her to launch a range of false eyelashes. Fans couldn’t get enough of the fluttery, flattering designs and Huda Beauty quickly followed the launch with a range of liquid lipsticks, contour palettes and, most recently, a mascara as well as an array of spin off brands including perfume brand Kayali and skincare brand when you shop for Huda Beauty with these ASOS discount MCGRATH LABSWhen Pat McGrath Labs launched in 2015, the beauty industry erupted into a frenzy with editors and fans desperate to get their hands on the industrial-style, pro makeup kit Gold 001. It consisted of a dense pressed gold pigment, a stainless steel spatula, a mixing medium and a mixing palette to offer the consumer the chance to unleash their inner makeup artist. It was packaged in a simple manufacturing pouch, which had been stuffed full of gold sequins, which elevated the unboxing experience to new, glistening heights. While the original kit is no longer available, and the packaging has evolved to be more sustainable, Pat McGrath Labs continues to offer impressive pigments among a throng of other high-performance makeup when you shop for Pat McGrath Labs with these Selfridges discount COSMETICSGrowing up in front of the Keeping Up With The Kardashians cameras, it was unclear to viewers what Kylie Jenner would do with her life, but no one knew that an insecurity she had about her lips would turn out to be her biggest asset. After receiving intense speculation about whether or not she had received lip fillers, Kylie claimed her full lips were simply the result of over-lining with lip liner and lipstick. She has since admitted that she did have fillers, but that didn’t stop her debut Lip Kits from being an instant sell out. The kit consisted of a matte, liquid lipstick and a lip liner in a matching shade and allowed fans to recreate her signature over-lined, full pout. While the brand recently underwent a total makeover including reformulation of all the products, the Lip Kit is still one of the most popular TILBURYIt all started backstage at some of the world’s most celebrated fashion shows years before the launch of her namesake brand. Charlotte would concoct her famous “magic moisturiser” to prep models’ skin prior to makeup application, and it soon became known within the industry as the secret weapon for a dewy, lit-from-within look. In 2013, Charlotte decided to share the secret of runway ready skin with the world, launching Magic Cream into Selfridges. It sold out instantly and retains cult status to this when you shop for Charlotte Tilbury with these Feelunique discount BEVERLY HILLSAfter more than a decade shaping the eyebrows of the rich and famous, Anastasia Soare launched her first brow collection in Nordstrom. Every weekend, she would go to the counter to chat with customers and show them how to use the products. Now, Anastasia Beverly Hills has a full range of makeup products from the sell-out Contour Kit to the new Cream Bronzer, whilst still being known for their game-changing eyebrow BEAUTYCult Beauty, the beloved e-commerce site for lesser-known beauty brands and insider favourites, has just sold for £275 million to beauty giant The Hut Group, who also own Look Fantastic. It began in the basement flat of co-founder Jessica DeLuca, who alongside Alexia Inge, wanted to shine a light on the beauty industry secrets and champion emerging brands with one rule – they had to work and they had to be sensational. The first ever product they brought on board was Escentric Molecules Molecule 01, which was the result of a tip-off from a neighbour who worked in a London boutique. Naomi Campbell had visited the boutique wearing the now renowned fragrance and the neighbour had asked what perfume she was wearing as it was so magnetic. At the time, Eccentric Molecules was almost unknown and the founding duo had to do some serious digging to find when you shop for Cult Beauty with these Cult Beauty discount BEAUTYA spin off from parent company The Honest Company, Honest Beauty launched in 2015 with 17 skin care products and a vast array of over 60 makeup products, all of which were formulated in accordance with the brand's “No List”, a list of over 2,500 chemicals and materials they choose not to use because of the potential harm to health.