With an immeasurable number of categories falling under the umbrella of “beauty” and large established retailers wanting a piece of the cosmetic pie, there are more players in the game than ever before.

The meteoric growth of the industry is the result of several critical changes, like the democratization of Beauty, or the growing shopping power of the Millennials who, according to many analysts, focus on “self-care” as a coping method against a difficult political and economic climate. Another significant growth factor is the rise of social media, in particular the image-based social network, Instagram.

Obviously, a visual medium is optimal for a beauty brand: it fully allows it to explore the visual potential of its products. Not only, but Instagram has enabled brands to cultivate a stronger image, interact with consumers in a more direct way, as well as creating an entirely new marketing category, that of influencers, which, in turn, have at times turned into fully-fledged entrepreneurs.