“Be intentional with brand collabs”, says top beauty influencer

Images: Hêlîn Doski With 2.3m followers on TikTok and 348k on Instagram, beauty influencer Hêlîn Doski shares her tips on building a community…

UK native Doski is best-known for her viral TikTok video about dermaplaning, which racked up over 2.6m views on the video-sharing platform, along with her ‘date night’ get-ready-with-me-style videos.  

We spoke to Doski, who now lives in Dubai, to get her insights for beauty brands that want to work with top influencers  

Cosmetics Design-Europe: (CDE) What advice do you have for beauty brands who want to work with top beauty influencers such as yourself? ​

Hêlîn Doski (HD): It’s important to make sure the brand’s identity and ethos aligns with the influencer to ensure an organic collaboration. People are craving authenticity more than ever so it’s vital to choose influencers that truly love the brand for partnerships.   

CDE: What tips do you have when it comes to building an audience on TikTok or Instagram?  ​

HD: Speak to your audience. Everything changed for me once I started talking in my videos as it allowed my audience to connect with me on a deeper level than before. 

CDE: When multiple beauty brands are hoping to work with you, how do you stay authentic and true to yourself and your fans? ​

HD: I prefer to work with the brands that I have loved and used for a long time. I’m very selective with my advertisements and prefer working in long-term partnerships to retain that authenticity. 

However, when I’m approached by a brand that I haven’t used before but seems interesting, I always try out the products for a sufficient amount of time before deciding whether I would like to share their product with my audience. 

CDE: Which beauty brand ethos do you admire and why? ​ 

HD: I love that Fenty Beauty came into the industry wanting to include all women from skin tones that are hard to match to skin types.  

I also love e.l.f. Cosmetics for producing innovative quality products that are affordable. Not everyone can buy the viral but expensive makeup product circling on TikTok, so brands like e.l.f. allow consumers to enjoy dupes​ at a lower cost.  

CDE: How do you think the beauty industry has evolved over time, especially in terms of how TikTok influencers like yourself collaborate with brands? ​

HD: I think we have entered a time where content creators are more prevalent than ever, which in turn means the influencer industry is bigger than ever. Brands now understand the impact that influencers can make and are also allocating more budget to working with influencers.  

With that being said, people have seen so many social media advertisements since the rise of TikTok that they have almost lost their authenticity. As such, it’s more important than ever to be intentional with brand collaborations.