From counterfeit cosmetics to bogus home beauty devices, there are so many scams in the beauty industry. While most medical equipment suppliers are reputable, there are plenty of sellers on sites like Amazon listing laser hair removal machines and LED light masks that look like they’d be more at home in a sci-fi film.
The problem is, many of the scammiest products sold on the internet come with a host of positive reviews, making them seem legit. Thankfully, we’ve got four methods you can use to determine if a product is all it’s cracked up to be.
1. Spotting counterfeits
Though getting a fake product definitely means it won’t do what’s promised on the packaging, it can also expose you to dangerous and disgusting ingredients like arsenic, lead, urine, and all sorts of bacteria.
One of the best ways to avoid counterfeit products is to buy directly from the brand you’re interested in. If you’re looking on a site like Amazon, check who the seller is and take a look at their store and their overall ratings and reviews.
2. Spotting fake reviews
Sadly, the reviews and ratings you see online may not always be legitimate. So, if you’re considering making a purchase based on reviews, you’ll need to do a bit more digging first. If you’re seeing exaggerated claims that the product changed someone’s life, remember the old adage that if something sounds too amazing to be true, it probably is.
If you start to see a pattern of similar-sounding reviews, that’s another red flag. Also, if the aggregate reviews are split with mostly 5-star or 1-star reviews and not a whole lot going on in the middle, that’s suggestive of a less-than-stellar product that’s paid for positive reviews to balance out the genuine ones.
3. Look for affiliate disclaimers and #sponsored
If you’re looking at reviews for a product on a beauty blog or YouTube channel, look for any fine print declaring that the beauty guru is affiliated with the product. This could be an affiliate disclaimer, special links with a discount code, or hashtags like #sponsored, #sponcon, and #ad. This doesn’t necessarily mean their review is fake, but it’s important that you’re able to consider what they have to say with it in mind that they were compensated by the brand.
4. Know how to spot advertorials
Have you ever been flipping through a magazine and come across something that looks for all the world like the usual articles about celebrity hookups or diet disasters and found product suggestions worked into the text?
This hybrid of content and advertising is known as an advertorial. Nowadays, you’ll find it everywhere from newspapers to televised news programs, and it tends to slip past our advertising detector, which is precisely why brands use it.
It’s important to know that the brands advertising this way are paying the media outlet for coverage designed to look like news. It’s up to you to decide what that says about their ethics and the quality of their products.
Even the most popular beauty brands make some pretty out-there claims. However, if their creams and lotions were as effective as the packaging makes out, we’d all be looking airbrushed and flawless by now. Instead of listening to marketing hype, advertorials, sponsored content, and overly effusive reviews, take your time, follow the tips above, and you’ll develop a natural ability to spot beauty products that aren’t going to live up to their over-inflated claims.
Thank you for these tips. Sometimes I m afraid to buy a new beauty product because I do not know if I can trust it.
Some very helpful tips to help filter out all the information and claims that we constantly see. Very interesting about advertorials and how they are slipped in.
This is good information. I kind of knew all of it but it is a good source of information on what to look out for. Thank you for the post.
Very good article. I stick to the brands I know work well for me.
This was so informative to read I reread parts of it. I have gotten pretty good at spotting the fake paid for reviews on Amazon. I pretty much stick to the same old brands that I have used for years.