According to Dolly Parton – “It costs a lot of money to look this cheap” and in the UK beauty industry is worth billions.

People spend thousands on beauty products and treatments each year. To find out what fuels this industry, an online voucher code and money saving site investigates the True Cost of Beauty.

Celebrity Beauty Gurus

Kim Kardashian and Kylie Jenner have a huge following of fans copying their every move as they share their lives on Instagram and Snapchat. Many young people aspire to mimic their celebrity idols, which has seen a boom in influence marketing as fans flock to replicate their idols, which includes copying their beauty regimes. Keeping up with these celebrities can cost thousands, so www.MyVoucherCodes.co.uk asked: “How much does it cost for celebrities to look as good as they do and how much time does it take them to get preened?”

Between them, Kim Kardashian and Kylie Jenner have 177.1m Instagram followers keeping up to date with the reality TV duo’s makeup and beauty routines. So how much and how long goes into their daily makeup and beauty routines?

Kim Kardashian

• Takes at least 2hrs to do her makeup.
• Uses £2,300 worth of beauty and skincare products as part of her daily beauty regime.
• Owns Kardashian Kollection, a make-up collaboration which is worth £2.82million.

Kylie Jenner

• Takes up to 2hrs to do her make up.
• Uses £2,800 worth of beauty and skincare products as part of her daily beauty regime.
• Earns £16.5 million from Lip Kits, merchandise, clothing, books and posters.

Rise of the beauty vloggers

Beauty vlogging (where people use YouTube video’s to talk about beauty) is popular with millennials, the top beauty vloggers have legions of fans following their every makeup and beauty move via their YouTube channels. It’s turned into a lucrative market for brands and vloggers. So just how lucrative is this?

Michelle Phan

• Earning £2.1m a year.
• Subscribers: 6m

Zoella

• Earning £50k per month.
• Subscribers: 4m

Tanya Burr

• Earning £20k per month.
• Subscribers: 2.8m

Spending in the UK

The beauty industry is big business, so what is the true cost of beauty in the UK? And how much do people spend on products and treatments and is it anything near their celebrity counterparts. In the UK people spend £284million a year on products, let’s break it down by age groups:

• 19-24: £1,759
• 25-34: £2,045
• 35-44: £2,183
• 45-54: £2,238
• 55-64: £2,190

In the UK health and beauty product sales rose by 8.7% in January and it’s not just spending on beauty products in the UK that’s high, Brits also splash the cash on hairdressing and beauty treatments.

• Haircuts – £23
• Hair colour – £37
• Manicure – £17
• Hair removal – £16
• Tanning – £16

Beauty Boxes List

Beauty boxes have grown in popularity in the UK – you can try out smaller products, at a lower cost. There are a number of different options available, offering products varying from travel sized to full size and other little treats.

Most popular beauty boxes:

1. Glossybox – £10
2. LookFantastic – £13
3. Cohorted – £35
4. Mintd – £65
5. Birchbox – £10

Discussing the cost of the beauty industry in the UK, Managing Director of MyVoucherCodes, Chris Reilly said:

“Celebrities have always been hugely influential, and thanks to the rise of social media celebs lives are shared with their fans in a way we have never before seen. Now many celebs have a huge following looking at their every beauty move, beauty vloggers have millions of views online and figures show that huge amounts of money is spent on beauty products and treatments in the UK. It’s safe to say that the true cost of beauty in the UK is well in the millions and that’s not including the time spent using the products but also following celebrities and vloggers tips.”

He added:

“The industry in the last few years has been fuelled by social media as we can see from our figures, not just from people wanting to look like their favourite celebrities, but also from people wanting to look ‘Instagram perfect’ in their selfies. The increase in sales and the rise in beauty boxes, shows the cost of beauty in the UK is high and potentially only going to increase.”