- Rare Beauty has launched "Rare Beginnings," its second fragrance and matching global campaign, fronted by founder Selena Gomez and directed by Hans Neumann.
- The 45-second hero film draws on Greek mythology, using the nymph as a metaphor for self-revelation, rolling out across social, out-of-home, retail, and paid digital.
- Created with longtime creative partner Fred & Farid Paris, the same shop behind Rare Beauty's 2024 "Every Side of You" campaign.
- Unlike Rare Beauty's makeup line, now sold at both Sephora and Ulta Beauty, Rare Beginnings is exclusive to Sephora.
Selena Gomez is once again fronting a Rare Beauty campaign, this time for “Rare Beginnings,” a global push built around the brand’s second fragrance.
A 45-second hero film, directed by Hans Neumann, turns a studio into a moss-covered, flower-filled set inspired by Greek mythology, casting the nymph as a symbol of opening up rather than closing down. Still photography leans into quiet, painterly imagery instead of the high-energy style typical of beauty ads.
The campaign spans social, out-of-home, retail, and paid digital in key markets. It was created with Fred & Farid Paris, whose Los Angeles office also led Rare Beauty’s first global campaign, “Every Side of You,” in 2024.
Fred & Farid co-founder and CEO Frédéric Raillard said the fragrance turns the brand’s five-year message of self-acceptance into “the moment someone opens up instead of closing down.”
Rare Beginnings follows Find Comfort, the brand’s debut scent, and is sold exclusively at Sephora, Rare Beauty’s retail home since it launched in 2020. That’s notable because the brand’s makeup line broke Ulta Beauty’s launch-day sales record after expanding there in February 2026.
Gomez founded Rare Beauty in 2020, and the company is now valued at an estimated $2.7 billion, ranking as the second most popular beauty brand in Piper Sandler’s latest teen survey.
This year alone, Rare Beauty also introduced the True to Myself foundation campaign fronted by Gomez, celebrated Latin American identity through its “Every Story Belongs” campaign starring beauty creator Desi Perkins, and named “Off Campus” actress Ella Bright as its first-ever brand ambassador.
Gomez’s 2026 has been busy well beyond Rare Beauty. In June, she popped up in a comic skit for Jennifer Aniston’s haircare brand, LolaVie. She also continues to hold a multi-year global ambassador deal with Puma.
On screen, she’s currently filming in London for Season 6 of Hulu’s “Only Murders in the Building,” alongside Steve Martin and Martin Short.
Takeaways
Rare Beginnings shows Rare Beauty leaning harder into storytelling as strategy and mythology as metaphor rather than another glossy product shot.
The campaign shows how central Gomez remains to the brand’s identity: five years in, she’s still the single face tying together fragrance, makeup, and mental-health messaging.
Keeping the fragrance line Sephora-exclusive while the makeup range spreads to Ulta suggests Rare Beauty is using retail exclusivity to keep certain launches feeling special even as the brand scales.
Does keeping the fragrance line Sephora-exclusive risk alienating the Ulta shoppers the brand just won over? How much of Rare Beginnings’ marketing weight is riding on Gomez’s crossover moment across music, film, and Only Murders’ London-set new season?
