Across 52 European markets, beauty earned media in the first half of 2026 tells two different stories depending on where you look. Instagram grew. TikTok did not. Kolsquare ranked the top 100 beauty brands in Europe by Earned Media Value on both platforms, January to June 2026, against the same period last year.
Here is the continental picture, the segment leaders, and the group-level shift underneath it.
L’Oréal Paris holds a wide lead with 266.6 M€ EMV, generated by 26,867 creators at a 4.5% engagement rate.
Sephora takes second with 166.2 M€, built across 15 national accounts rather than one central presence.
Huda Beauty completes the podium with 129.3 M€ and the best engagement rate of the three at 7.5%.
L’Oréal Paris leads again with 195.8 M€ EMV at a 3.9% engagement rate.
NYX sits just 3 M€ behind on 192.8 M€, generating the largest content volume on the podium.
Sephora completes the top three with 187.3 M€.
The margin at the top of TikTok is the headline. Three points separate first from third by less than 5% of total value, where the Instagram leader sits at more than 1.5 times its nearest rival.
On Instagram, L’Oréal Paris leads make-up, Garnier tops both skincare and haircare with 98.9 M€ EMV, and Dior Beauty leads fragrance with 107.6 M€.
The same pattern that shows up in almost every national ranking this half repeats at continental scale: one brand holding two segments, and fragrance belonging to a luxury house rather than a mass-market one.
Brand rankings understate how concentrated European beauty has become.
L’Oréal Group earned 1.29 Md€ on Instagram, 28.7% of all European beauty EMV, up 26% year on year. LVMH follows at 424 M€ and Estée Lauder Companies at 238 M€.
On TikTok the group share is higher still, at 1.23 Md€ and 36.4% of the market, but moving the other way: down 13% year on year.
The most important number in this edition is not a ranking position. Beauty EMV on TikTok across Europe fell 10% year on year while content volume rose 44%.
More brands are posting more, and the same attention is being divided into smaller pieces. Instagram, meanwhile, grew for the market leaders. For anyone planning 2027 budgets on the assumption that TikTok volume converts linearly into earned value, this half is the counter-example.
The complete reports carry the top 100 by EMV on each platform, the top 10 for make-up, skincare, haircare and fragrance, and the top 10 beauty groups. Every entry shows its creator base, content volume, engagement rate and movement on H1 2025.
Ranked by Earned Media Value using Kolsquare creator data, January to June 2026, across 52 European markets.
Kolsquare is Europe’s leading Influencer Marketing platform, offering a data-driven solution that empowers brands to scale their KOL (Key Opinion Leader) marketing strategies through authentic partnerships with top creators.
Kolsquare’s advanced technology helps marketing professionals seamlessly identify the best content creators by filtering their content and audience, while also enabling them to build, manage, and optimize campaigns from start to finish. This includes measuring results and benchmarking performance against competitors.
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