FIFTEEN-YEAR-OLD GIRLS don't want advice from their mothers. It's a truism as old as time, and yet for every parent, a bitter pill. When it comes to crafting and caring for their emergent selves, teenagers look to their phones, to brands, to celebrities. In this moment, they are finding all three in Selena Gomez, who, with 427 million followers, is the most followed woman on Instagram. This is despite the fact that she famously logged off social media for four years, returning only in the past year, because it was wreaking havoc on her mental health. When I ask my own teenager and her friends—musical-theater nerds, athletes, Black, brown, and white girls—to explain the singer, actor, and cosmetics founder's allure, one says succinctly, “Selena Gomez doesn't make me feel less-than.”
Gomez, 31, greets me at the back door of her serene “glam room” at the Encino, California, house she shares with her grandparents. She's wearing a loose tank top and gray pajama pants, her foot in a boot after she fractured a bone tripping over her friend's puppy. “I've performed on stage hundreds of times in high heels, doing whole dance routines, and have never broken a bone. Then I take one wrong step over a little dog,” she says, laughing.
We settle on a green velvet couch near a wall of makeup mirrors and two makeup chairs. When asked why she thinks girls like my daughter have such an allegiance to her, she says, “I'm not unattainable. I look at someone like a Beyoncé, and I am amazed. My jaw drops. Every part of her is just impeccable, and it's just so beautiful. I went to her show and was blown away. But I'm just not that, and that's okay. I'm me, and I'm a little silly, but I also like being sexy and fun, and I also want to do good with the time I have here. We need goddesses like Beyoncé and Adele. But I'm just happy to be your best friend.”
SALES AND SOCIAL media metrics only TELL HALF THE STORY of Rare Beauty's success.
Gomez brought that spirit of relatability to Rare Beauty, the makeup line she launched three years ago that has become an astronomical success and taken on an identity that transcends Gomez herself. Rare Beauty is expected to exceed $300 million in sales in 2023, according to the company—triple what it earned in 2022, when sales doubled from 2021. Near the end of its first year, the brand went
