According to the first Beauty Trends Report by online beauty retailer LookFantastic [1], American makeup artist and social media star Mikayla Jane Nogueira seems to have found the perfect formula to share her passion for beauty products, resulting in her becoming the most popular influencer of the year 2022.

Both humorous and frank, her posts are winning over followers all over the world, to the point that the young woman is the subject of 2,400 monthly searches on average. Search interest for her name has jumped by 1275% in just one year.

Mikayla Nogueira, the most influential

With more than 13.8 million followers on TikTok, Mikayla Nogueira is a little less popular on Instagram with ’only’ 490,000 followers. But it should be noted that this is an unauthenticated account through which the social networking star only shares personal posts. Her professional account, Beauty by Mikayla Jane, counts over 2.4 million followers. And that’s not all, since the makeup artist is regularly quoted in the media for her innovative techniques and tips and is at the origin of many beauty trends such as the ’sticky method,’ just to name one. This kind of media coverage contributes to elevating the makeup artist’s status to that of the most powerful beauty influencers in the world.

In second place is London-based Nigerian social media star Uche Natori, who, although not as well-known as her counterpart, is one of the beauty influencers to follow very closely in the coming months. Famous for her perfect foundation — she refers to herself as "the base queen" — the young woman counts 300,000 followers on Instagram, nearly 160,000 on TikTok, is also present on YouTube, and has been the subject of 2,400 searches on average per month, as much as Mikayla. The top places in this ranking of the most popular female influencers of the year are rounded out by American Meredith Duxbury (1,900 monthly searches, 16.2 million followers on TikTok), Danielle Marcan (720 monthly searches, 3.4 million followers), and Tammi Clarke (480 monthly searches, 560,000 followers).

The unbeatable Kylie Jenner

When it comes to celebrity influencers (referring to those who were already famous before making a foray into the beauty scene) who dominate the world of makeup, this time, it’s Kylie Jenner, no surprises there, who has risen to the top rank in 2022. The former reality TV star is simply unstoppable on social media, with no fewer than 376 million followers on Instagram (and that’s not counting the people who follow her countless cosmetic and fashion brands). Meanwhile the hashtag #kyliejennermakeup alone has generated 255 million views on TikTok to date.

Another star who launched her own skincare brand in 2022, Hailey Bieber is the second most popular makeup celebrity influencer in the world. Some 50 million people now follow her on Instagram, while the hashtag #haileybiebermakeup is responsible for 209 million views on TikTok. She is ahead of actress Alexa Demie, star of the series "Euphoria," whose makeup inspirations have been seen more than 80 million times on TikTok, Madison Beer (65 million views), and, coming in last in this Top 5, Kim Kardashian, whose influence, it should be said, goes far beyond the field of makeup and beauty.