This Gen-Z influencer is one of the established and breakout names informing beauty and, more importantly, culture today. More from the series →
Eleanor Barnes, best known as her social media handle, Snitchery, is bringing together the worlds of beauty and cosplay.
Barnes, 24, is a self-proclaimed “makeup enthusiast,” whose influencer career took off when she was 18. “I got Instagram so I could talk to people in college, and I started doing these really artsy looks on my face,” she said. “I didn’t even know what an influencer was. But a couple of brands started noticing me.”
That led to working with “every beauty brand you can think of,” including MAC, Tarte, Too Faced and Benefit. Milk Makeup remains her “all-time favorite makeup company,” as it “constantly comes out with cool, innovative products,” she said.
But three years ago, she pivoted the focus of her social posts to cosplay — a passion of hers since she was a kid.
“I was worried I would lose a lot of that support from the beauty community, and I was kind of OK with that, because I was excited to cosplay,” she said. “But I’ve been fortunate enough to work with a lot of brands that have been really supportive of my weirdness in the beauty space.” Among those has been Fenty Beauty, she said.
Though a “latecomer” to TikTok — she first signed on at the beginning of quarantine — Barnes has amassed 1.2 million followers on the platform. Among her secrets to popularity: posting differentiated content.
“My cosplay has always been very beauty-focused,” she said. “For the first year or two, I never showed below my shoulders in a post. That’s weird for cosplay — when you think of a character, you think of their outfit. And that helped propel me pretty quickly, just because it was something different.”
Her most popular character to date: “a Catwoman thirst trap,” she said, which has accumulated more than 9 million views.
One thing she’s noticed, for sure, is that Gen Zers on the platform are changing beauty norms. “Beauty standards will probably always stick around, just because people need to market,” she said. “But it’s been really refreshing to see that the standard of beauty has turned from one set thing to just being as unique in yourself as possible.”
She added: “I had green hair in high school, when there was no TikTok to see that there were other kids like me. Now, it’s mainstream to be a nerd, which is awesome.”
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