Skincare/Beauty Influencers

Welcome back, @Viivihtips! I missed you! The Love: • Satisfying transformations: Watching a stubborn acne journey turn into clear skin. • Aesthetic visuals: The pure satisfaction of close-up product textures and smooth applications. • Genuine recommendations: Finding a hidden gem product that actually works for real skin issues. The Hate: • Hidden filters: Using heavy beauty filters while claiming a product gave them "poreless" skin. • Undisclosed sponsorships: Pushing a product as a "holy grail" only because they are being paid to say so. • Fear-mongering & overconsumption: Pushing unnecessary 15-step routines that destroy the skin barrier just to sell more stuff.

@Viivihtips Welcome back and best of luck on your creator journey! 🤍✨ ​Here is my take: ​✅ The Love: ​Head-to-head comparisons / Face-offs: Just like the CYoung format, taking two products (or more!) with the same hero active or similar claims and comparing the actual formulation, texture, finish, and skin compatibility. It gives real, actionable knowledge rather than just hype. ​Empty reviews & long-term testing: Seeing a product actually finished after weeks or months of consistent use proves it survived real life, not just a one-off first impression. ​🚫 The Hate: ​Filter-loaded 'instant miracle' ads: Showing heavily smoothed skin and promising life-changing results after a single application. Biology just doesn't work overnight, and it provides zero real value or honest knowledge to the viewer. ​Over-hyping every single launch: When every new PR package is declared an instant 'holy grail,' trust goes right out the window. Tell us who a product won't work for—that builds way more credibility!

Mine overlap quite a bit with Annie's: Love -- It's all about building trust and connection 🩵 They let me know their skin type so I can be aware of how results may differ for me 🩵 Expertise level -- "a person with skin" is a perfectly acceptable qualification, so long as creators stay within their scope of practice. 🩵 Be upfront about devices and medical treatments that impact results. Use botox -- I love that for you! Let me know so that I can keep that in mind when you're talking about anti-aging products. Same with laser treatments, peels, etc. Not everything can be fixed with topicals. If you fixed under eye pigmentation with an in-office treatment, I want to hear that rather than be sold an eye cream that won't help. (This kind of talk made me trust CYoung.) 🩵 "No makeup" demonstrations - let me see all the flaws! Because my face has them too 🩵 Actually trial the products and document it. 🩵 Yes to aesthetic visual reference but also thorough product descriptions, especially for the aspects that can't bee seen -- I wouldn't have wasted money on Dr Ceuracle's Hyal Reyouth sunscreen if I'd been told about the INTENSE fragrance. It would have spared me a migraine too, just from opening the tube. I don't follow that creator anymore. 🩵 Documented progress: be transparent about the product trial and let us see it. Good and bad. 🩵 What other skincare did they use with the product, because that informs results too. 🩵 Who is the product best for, even if it's not for them (love this about CYoung) 🩵 Even if it's good, is it worth the money or are we paying for the brand? Alternatives? Dupes? 🩵 Figures out how to pronounce ingredients, brand names, and product names BEFORE recording (Virgo feelings!) 🩵 Transparent about sponsorships and PR, give an honest review -- getting free product is not a sin. I just want the brutally honest truth whether you paid for it or not. And these companies need to here it. If they pull sponsorship because you went off script, that's a big red flag -- and I want to hear about that too! Brand tea is my jam. 🩵 Research: what are the ingredients? What do they do? history about the brand, etc. I'm a nerd. Give me facts! I don't expect someone to be a dermatologist or cosmetic chemist when they aren't. But I feel comforted when I know someone did their homework. 🩵 Alternative uses for a product that isn't necessarily bad, but didn't work out for your face. Gifting, using elsewhere on the body, etc. 🩵 Products that the creator feels genuinely excited about -- I may not purchase a highly scented holiday lip mask, but I love feeling other people's excitement over their special interests. I may not purchase but you will get engagement. 🩵 Genuine creators. I want to feel like I'm hanging out with a skincare bestie. 🩵 Bloopers. If you put moisturizer on your tooth brush or squeeze out a dollop of product for a close up that ends up on your lap, I want to see that too. 🤣 🩵 If the packaging is annoying, say so. Ain't nobody got time for TikTok syringe weirdness. 🩵 Beauty bias callouts! If a brand needs to do better at being inclusive of skin tone, ethnic features, etc. I want to hear that. I also want to hear about the struggles that content creators outside of my demographic have with finding product matches -- or cultural beauty standards that differ. I am a (medically) skinny white blond(ish) (sort of) woman and hearing other experiences helps me make better recommendations to my friends and family who aren't like me -- and to help push the industry to do better for all of us. For example, my niece inherited her father's beautiful, thick, textured latino hair. Youtube hair stylist have been so helpful in learning about how to tackle her dry strands and preserve her length because the only feature my niece and I share in common is our curls. But they need totally different products. Dislike: Broken trust, disingenuous results, feeling used, and unqualified opinions 💔 Sponsored pitches aren't a sin either. Make your money. Get that product. But feeling like I got tricked by my skincare bestie into attending an MLM party is a friendship-ending scenario. If that's happen to you, then you know how used you feel. If the post is a sponsored pitch, tell me out the gate so I know what I'm in for. Transparency is key to preserving trust. 💔 Dishonest or disingenuous pitches for the sponsors. We've all had the experience of seeing a social media post where the normally animated creator we love has uncanny dead eyes while reading the product deck. The vibes come through. 💔 Seconding the fear mongering. Very MLM. Very red flag. 💔 Recommending products with their whole chest that don't match their skin type or concerns -- don't tell me a product will work for sensitive skin if you don't have sensitive skin, rosacea, psoriasis, etc. A good alternative is finding friends to sample the product and give you feedback (I love this about CYoung's MUA friends.) 💔 Single bathroom shot and then fast forward to a full set of makeup and a glowing review. 💔 Internet jargon on steroids 💔 Scope of practice ignored -- when influencers forget they aren't medical practitioners or outright contradict or invalidate medical advice. 💔 Advice that isn't backed by research or clinical studies 💔 Off label recommendations for treating a skin conditions that run contrary to medical advice, given without any education or research, or is directly anti-science.