The Cost of Beauty: How Much Influencers Spend for A Perfect Shot?

Beauty Price Tag

Filters, hashtags, brand partnerships, and follower counts are good problems to have when you’ve invested in your brand to become a social media influencer. In an instant, the perfect picture can send the internet into overdrive and make you the next “it” girl on Instagram. But what happens when you get the coveted number of followers that you’ve sought after for so long? You have to work to keep them. Your favorite influencer has to take advantage of the latest trends and techniques in beauty and fashion to keep your feed filled with their content. Newsflash, these procedures are not cheap! We’ve uncovered some of the things they are doing to make sure they do just that! Keep reading to find out some of the latest in non-surgical procedures and beauty industry services that have influencers spending their social media money.

Non-Surgical Nose Job

The most prominent focal point on your face could make for a challenging time when adjusting your head for the perfect Instagram angle. Your favorite influencers can quickly thin out their nose or even out a hump on the silhouette of their nose with the help of a filler. Yes! The same filler used to plump Kylie Jenner’s lips, Voluma and Bellafill, can be injected into the nose to create the opposite effect, a thinning effect. The procedure is perfect for an influencer because they can do it in a lunch hour with little to no recovery time needed. This small window of time can help them out when they need a quick fix before shooting a sponsored campaign or have scheduled a photo shoot to provide their feeds with content for the month.

The Price

Surprisingly enough the nonsurgical nose job costs as much if not more than a traditional rhinoplasty. Keep in mind the average nose job requires about $5000. Voluma, which serves as the more temporarily filler of the two mentioned above will run you about $2,500 a year. You can stretch the injections to once every 18 months and get your money’s worth. However, the permanent option, Bellafill, costs about $1,500 a session for three sessions to complete the whole process. That totals up to about $4,500.

Cool Sculpting

Have you ever wondered how your favorite beauty influencer flawlessly angles their body with no hint of cellulite? CoolSculpting may the answer. Outside of the influencers aggressively advocating for veganism and Herbalife the influencers who are not about that #GYMLIFE use non-invasive procedures to help their IG filters do less of the heavy lifting. A lot of influencers are known to partake in CoolSculpting, a non-surgical fat-freezing method that results in fat-reduction. The treatment uses controlled cooling to eliminate stubborn fat. A machine similar to a vacuum sucks in the areas that you are a little self-conscious about and kills the fat cells permanently. The results of this almost paint free system are allegedly noticeable, and lasting. Bear in mind that it takes a few weeks for your body to work to get rid of the fat. CoolSculpting has to be done in sessions.

The Price

The costs of the CoolSculpting procedure can range anywhere from $2000 to $4000 total depending on the treatment area. This price bracket includes the cost of more than one treatment but may vary per CoolSculpting professional.

Wigs

Inches! Have you seen the wig masters like Alonzo Arnold and Mr. Cliff whipping their hair around like a Willow Smith video? Nine times out of ten they post multiple times in one week and each day their hair is a different style, in a different color, and hanging at a different length. They can achieve that versatility with their wig assortment! Frontal wigs, closure wigs, and more including both human hair and synthetic hair run the hair game of IG. As much as they like to hide it your favorite celebrity influencers are rocking them the most. The two wigs showing up the most on your feed:

The Full Lace Wig

Full lace wigs are the beasts made by celebrity wig gurus like Tokyo Styles and constructed from a lace cap that covers the whole head. 100% human hair is then knotted into the lace cap by hand to create a flat and flawless scalp. These wigs are so popular because you can create a parting anywhere that you want. The most significant draw about a full lace wig is its versatility all over. You can even wear the hair up at the back in an updo without detection that you are wearing a wig! In reality, influencers are on the cutting edge of trends in the fashion and beauty industry. Full lace wigs allow them to keep their feeds up to date with all of the latest hairstyles and coloring techniques without having to damage or prep the hair on their head.

The Front Lace Wig

A lace front wig is a traditional wig machine sewed wefts sewn throughout the cap, but with a twist. There is a lace strip in the front of the unit that is about 2 – 3 inches wide. They can be glued to the front of your head and have straps that can be tightened at the back to fit around the head. Combs at the sides of the cap are used to secure the wig to your head. An upside to these wigs is its composition. You can make a lace front with either human or synthetic hair. A lot of influencers are on Instagram straight flexing in synthetic silky straight lace front wigs with highlights and lowlights seamlessly. The selling price of these units is dependent upon the kind of hair used, and also other critical information such as type and length.

The Price

Full lace wigs are the more expensive options of the two ranging from anywhere between $500 to $1000 depending on the density and hair texture used on the unit. Private Label Extensions sell front lace wigs ranging from $200 to $350. Textures like silky straight, body wave and deep wave are on the website for purchase at length all the way up to 20" at 130% density. You can even special-order wigs at longer lengths and higher densities including 150% and 180%. All of the hair used in a PLE wig is 100% human, so it is a higher quality unit than synthetic front lace wigs.

Tape-Ins

Another way influencers switch up their locks to achieve the perfect look for a flick is to use tape-ins. Tape in extensions is the newest hair extension trend on the market. Tape in hair extensions has thin wefts that are about 1 inch in width and pre-taped. The extensions get “taped-in” in between your hair in “sandwich” like bonds. This method requires no tools or chemicals and lasts up to three months. Bonus the hair is reusable! A lot of influencers like them because they provide versatility for people who like to rock their hair straight. The small tape like pieces can be manipulated for the wearer to do their hair any way they please.

The price

Private Label Extensions sells tape in extensions anywhere from $49 to $139 per pack starting at 50 grams. Salons will charge anywhere from $150 to $300 do a full install of tape-in extensions and to $75 an hour to remove and re-apply them.

Lash Extensions & Microblading

The eyes are the window to the soul. This saying is especially true when your eyes attract over 100,000 social media followers across all platforms! Over the last two years, techniques to enhance the features surrounding the eyes like eyebrows and eyelashes have been huge money makers and trendsetters. But these subtle changes to lengthen the lash or extended and thicken the brow are extremely popular amongst influencers because they are natural looking enhancements. You will barely notice if you are following someone whose eyebrows are perfectly arched. It’s one of those things where you know something has changed, but you just can’t quite figure it out! When Kim K started the trend of barely-there makeup in 2016, she focused on her brows and lashes to shape her face. It is almost like investing in these two things can help you get away from no makeup at all.

Individual Lash Extensions

To achieve the look, individual lashes are dipped into a medical-grade adhesive and bonded to your natural eyelash. Technicians usually do this one lash at a time, so it usually takes a few hours for the whole procedure. The adhesive can last about 4-6 weeks depending on how careful you are. There is a possibility that one day you could wake up with what looks like one naked eye and one eye covered by a tarantula because the more you rub your eyes, wash your face, or agitate that area the more likely you are to come up missing a few lashes. If you get regular touch-ups (re-application of adhesive) the lashes can last longer. Individual lash extensions are great because you can customize how you want your lashes to be. It’s kind of fun to mix and match pictures of your favorite lash and create your flare. You can pick the color, texture, and length of the lash every time you go for a new set.

Eyebrow Microblading

When I think about microblading, I think of the eyebrow goddess that is Beauty Mogul Huda Kattan. Microblading involves using a hand tool with nine or more tiny needles to create shallow cuts on the skin and then letting pigment seep in. It is ideal for making hair like strokes that match the hairs already growing in your eyebrows. Microblading is also a temporary procedure. The effect of Microblading lasts only one to three years depending on how your skin holds pigment. Influencers will opt for this over an eyebrow tattoo because, well we are no longer in the 1990s. No one wants those hardened dark brows. It is also not a blanket service. If someone has thick brows, they might choose to get some color added to the length of their eyebrows.

The Price

Lashes are lavish, and they cost a pretty penny. Your favorite influencer is spending anywhere from $120 to $500 for a set of lashes. Yes, one set. You also have to consider the cost of refills which can be $40 or $50 per visit. Here is where I would cheat if I were an influence. Custom lash strips can give you a similar effect for 10% of the budget. Private Label Extensions sells thin line eyelash strips for $11.00 a set at the wholesale price and $12.50 for a set of thick line lashes. My money could go far here, and I could get a few lash sets to try out. Microblading has no set costs. Charges for this service can range from $250 for the initial visit to over a thousand dollars for the initial appointment with free touch-ups included.

What's The Price?

Let's face it; you may have to spend money to get the perfect look in your picture for social media. Non-surgical procedures and beauty services like a lunchtime nose job, CoolSculpting, wigs, lash extensions, and Microblading can help to enhance your natural beauty and your Instagram feed if you are committed to perfection. But before you go crazy keep in mind, your favorite social media influencer has built their brand before doing all of these, so you may want to try out one or two before spending thousands of dollars to post a pretty picture. Have you ever thought of what goes into the perfect social media picture? Comment below on some things you do before you snap a selfie!