To further your career as a copywriter, it can help to find your niche. If you’ve always been passionate about beauty and well-being, a beauty copywriter could be the perfect role for you.
A beauty copywriter needs to be able to create different forms of content as the role could include anything from writing product descriptions to blog posts and beauty guides. Below we look at the role of a beauty copywriter in more detail and explore four great beauty copywriting examples that made an impact in the industry.
What is a beauty copywriter?
The role of a beauty copywriter is often to promote or review beauty products, for example, makeup, skincare, haircare, hygienic products and spa products. A beauty copywriter may be brought on in the early stages of brand and product development to help a company create and set their business tone and branding or they may be hired at a later date to create copy within existing brand guidelines.
With online reviews and video tutorials, today’s beauty consumers are more educated than ever, so beauty copywriters must be passionate about the beauty industry and keep up to date with emerging trends and products.
Three tips for beauty copywriters
Whether you’re trying to establish yourself in the beauty copywriting industry or are curious to see if it’s the right career path for you, the below tips can help you enter and advance in the beauty world…
1. Find your specialism
The beauty industry is estimated to be worth a staggering £472 billion. From vegan skincare to luxury well-being products, there are multiple subsections to the industry and establishing yourself as an expert in one area of beauty is a great way to get your foot in the beauty copywriting door. For example, if you are a seasoned parent, writing a blog post about beauty tips for mums can help beauty companies with an older target audience find you.
2. Know the buyer better than yourself
If you are writing sample copy for a brand, it is essential that as a beauty copywriter, you understand who a brand’s target audience is. For example, beauty company Glossier has become a cult favourite after using its stylish branding and Instagram-worthy content to target the millennial audience specifically.
Alternatively, if you are looking to read skincare copywriting examples, brands like The Ordinary have chosen to create scientific, stripped-back content about their products, to attract older, skincare-savvy individuals. When creating beauty copy consider the age, budget, lifestyle and beauty needs of your target audience.
3. Make every word count
When copywriting for beauty products, it is important you make every word count. For example, if you are writing content about a new shampoo, you should presume the reader knows how to wash their hair and what shampoo does, so you must delve deeper and explore why this specific product is better than others.
Does it contain new, scientifically tested or natural ingredients? Does it have a unique fragrance? For product descriptions, you often only have limited words to try to encourage a sale, so ensure you don’t fill the copy with anything that is common sense or obvious.
Four great beauty copywriting examples
Take some inspiration from these beauty copywriter pros:
1. Charlotte Tilbury
Luxury brand Charlotte Tilbury utilises first-person beauty copywriting to sell their make up products. For example, the first line of their eyeshadow palette descriptions reads:
‘Darlings, create the glowing, seductive, golden gaze ALL my celebrity friends ask for with my Luxury Palette for The Queen of Glow look!!’
By starting the copy with Charlotte Tilbury’s signature ‘darlings’ the reader instantly feels as though they are getting a product recommendation from beauty expert Charlotte Tilbury herself. The informal use of exclamation marks makes the message read as though it is an exciting text from a friend, making the reader feel comfortable.
When discussing beauty copywriting, Tilbury recommends that it’s best to speak from the heart:
“I’m not a marketing person, I’m looking at it from an expert point of view, I’m a perfectionist.”
Not all beauty copywriting should be as casual so ensure you consider whether your target audience would respond well to a relaxed tone.
2. Refy
When model and influencer Jess Hunt launched her beauty company, Refy, in 2020, she drew upon her years of experience behind the camera to create products and accompanying copy to attract a contemporary audience and build strong branding.
In just two sentences, Hunt explains what her brand stands for and why consumers need to purchase her products:
“Innovation, simplicity and inclusivity are at the heart of REFY. Whatever look you want to create, you can and this is what the brand stands for.”
When launching a new brand, it is essential you explain what the brand stands for and why their products are different, in a concise way: if a consumer is confused about who a company is or what they have to offer, they are unlike to make a purchase.
3. Clairol
Although this advert dates back to 1956, it is still an amazing example of beauty copywriting today. The simple Clairol slogan, Does she…or doesn’t she? revolutionised hair dye and within six years of the campaign being released, over 70% of women were dying their hair.
The slogan was short, impactful and simple. It identified that women weren’t dying their hair for fear of it looking unnatural and soothed their concerns in an instant.
When creating beauty copywriting, consider what may be preventing a customer from purchasing the product and try to address this concern in a concise way.
4. Revlon
In the 1930s it was the custom for women to wait until they had used all of their lipstick before buying another one. Revlon saw this as something that was harming their sales and created sales copy that would advertise the colour of the season every few months. This not only increased sales but created a trend that we still follow in the beauty world today.
This successful campaign reveals just how impactful beauty copywriting can be. Think of your long-term goals; how can your copy achieve these?
Becoming or hiring a beauty copywriter
If you think you have it in you to create some truly great beauty copywriting examples of your own but could do with a bit more advice first, check out our blog post on how to become a beauty copywriter.
