From TikTok Shop Bestsellers to Beauty Powerhouses: The Rapid Ascent of Made By Mitchell and P.Louise

When you think of homegrown TikTok beauty brands, chances are two will spring to mind most prominently: P.Louise and Made By Mitchell. The latter – the internet likes to remind us – did become the very first brand to sell $1 million in the space of just 24 hours, after all—and this was just from sales on TikTok Shop. Collectively, the brands have 4.4 million followers on the platform, and more often than not, when you look them up over there, you'll have the option to experience some form of live shopping event on their TikTok Shop streams.

All this to say, the success behind both P.Louise and Made By Mitchell is perhaps the ultimate illustration of how beauty shopping has shifted over the past decade. Social presence is a must, and particularly for the Gen Z generation and younger, quick, easy sales and modern ways to purchase have overtaken in-person buying and even traditional online shopping by a mile.

Both founders acknowledge the obvious leg-up platforms like TikTok have given them in building community and catapulting their brands. "Social media has been a massive part of that journey," Paige Louise Williams, 32, tells me. But, she adds, "it is how we have used it that sets us apart." That both Williams and Mitchell Halliday, 26, have managed to utilise social media in such a way to build multi-million dollar brands, has to says something about their skill in this area, particularly given how incredibly crowded the market is these days. "Platforms like TikTok and Instagram have given us [P.Louise] a direct line to our audience, allowing us to create moments and not just content," adds Williams.

But despite this social media savvy, both founders are adamant that this is just one of many reasons their brands have succeeded as they have. For Halliday, it's his experience as an independent makeup artist—and one who's so accessible and beloved amongst his fans—that set the course: "I think the mass interest in the brand came from the fact it was created by a makeup artist who understood how important it is to meet the needs of a makeup consumer. Every beauty consumer looks different from the next, but also wants something different as well. My years as a makeup artist allowed me to build a product line that translates across the board."

What the two have most in common—perhaps—is that both founders have crafted their brands from the ground up with a whole load of hard graft. Williams began by borrowing a £20,000 loan from her grandmother to open up her own beauty salon in Prestwich, and even had to sell her car at one point to keep the business afloat. It was the mention of one of her products by a well-known YouTuber that started to turn the tide, before TikTok Shop completely changed the game. In August 2024, she earned more than £1.5m in 12 hours, breaking a UK record.

Such a stratospheric rise to the top has come with its challenges, however. For Made By Mitchell, there was the public falling out between Halliday and makeup artist Malachi, and most recently, for Williams, there was ‘Pinkmas’-gate. Until last month, the founder had been planning a huge in-person Christmas experience for her legions of fans, but the event was cancelled due to licensing issues. The controversy prompted a backlash online, which, combined with the recent complaints about the quality of certain brand offerings like the ‘Mystery Box’, has put P.Louise in hot water. When questioned, a brand spokesperson said they take full responsibility for the oversight and were heartbroken to let their community down. They also confirmed that ticket holders would receive a full refund and pointed to the brand’s charitable efforts in the lead up to Christmas, from £1 from every order going to Cash for Kids in the first fortnight of December, to £5,000 worth of supermarket vouchers being distributed in the lead up to the holiday.

While unfortunate, such scandals and controversies were bound to happen, given the founders’ success and responsibilities relative to their experience, and can hopefully serve as a brutal, yet vital, lesson in building a multi-million-dollar brand from the ground up, and at a young age. The knowledge they will both undoubtedly take from these incidents will hopefully serve to strengthen what they have already created.

Both certainly have built strong communities that they will undoubtedly look to for support in times like these—and neither of them take this for granted. "I always say, community first,” says Halliday. “The value in my brand doesn’t stop and start with turnover; the value begins with my community. MBM is made for everyone, and I truly mean that. If I can’t make it work for everybody, I simply won’t make it. Without community, our growth wouldn’t have been as astounding as it is."

While the brands have built large communities and legions of fans, they still seem somewhat independent of the beauty mainstream, appealing mostly to a younger, TikTok-obsessed consumer. I have to admit that as a 33-year-old beauty editor of ten years, I knew little about both brands before speaking with the founders and doing my research. I also hadn't tried their products until very recently, in preparation for this piece.

Despite their fair share of controversies and challenges, both have plenty of big plans for the future, including expanding into wider customer bases where everyone is welcome. "We are always growing,” says Williams. “I’m focused on continuing to empower and uplift people, creating a space where everyone feels seen, celebrated, and inspired to go after their own version of success.” Meanwhile, Halliday told me that "world domination" comes to mind when thinking about the brand's future target demographic. "That’s where my sight for the future of MBM is. Ideally, I’d like to do a pop-up in Antarctica, but I’m not sure the penguins are my target audience. I’ll give it a good go, though," he cheekily adds. For now, he will have to settle for the UK: his very first bricks and mortar Made By Mitchell store is coming to Liverpool very soon.

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