Has your method for product research changed over time? How?
It’s more data-driven, since I look at site-wide analytics as well as keep track of reader feedback!
— Christine
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It made a big change when I discovered Temptalia!
?
The reply shows up as a little square. Is that a good thing? lol
Oh! It is an emoji! The one with hearts all over the face, lol!
Actually, yes, as I have become more familiar with ingredients/families. It has become less time consuming and more efficient. I still check Cosdna and Cosing, but only for unfamiliar substances. I don’t waste my time picking apart an ingredients list that has an offender or two. Just skip over it. I have also learned which lines are likely to have offenders or dislikes, like heavy silicones. It’s quick and easy to confirm or reject your prediction. Ariana it: thank u, next…
Same, for me if there’s fragrance or (bad) alcohol on the ingredients list, I just don’t even bother. I’m not saying they are bad per se, it’s just my skin doesn’t like them; once I identified what makeup and skincare ingredients don’t work for me, research by elimination become easier. ?
My method didn’t changed, just evolved. It started from blind buys.
Then I purchased items based on recommendations from bloggers in my country; than from bloggers from UK and US; than I discovered YouTube. But I would simply buy because they recommended them.
Afterwards I discovered Paula’s Choice and I started researching ingredients and formulas (in both skincare and make-up).
Then I slowly started researching a lot, reading reviews on beautyalley or temptalia or retailer websites. In time I learned to actually interpret reviews (a person with dry skin liking a dewy finish will review poorly a high coverage foundation I might like a lot).
It became a complex process which I enjoy each time.
A decade or more ago, I would just look anything I was interested in on Makeup Alley. Graduated to reading a few well written beauty blog sites, a few of which I still enjoy. And then my daughter turned me on to Temptalia and Allura, and this upped my access to excellent swatches, notations on formulas including problematic ingredients, and in depth, intelligently written reviews where I can learn as much as possible about a specific product BEFORE purchasing it (Allura no longer does written reviews, just her YouTube channel). Along with this site and several trustworthy YT’ers, I now need never buy blindly ever again!
Definitely more data driven also. Being more familiar with ingredients and having easier access to that information. Occasionally, I still treat myself to an impulse buy, though.
The biggest one is now I google a company or brand owner for “drama,” to help me weed out racists, homo- and trans- phobes, brands that treat customers like crap, etc. Now that I know more about ingredients, including ones I’m sensitive to, I pay more attention to ingredients lists. I rely more heavily on YouTube reviews, whereas 6-7 years ago it was blogs. More people are on YT now, including many indie brand reviewers. I pay much less attention to reviews on brand or store websites, as it seems fake reviews are more prevalent, and many brands don’t post bad reviews. I appreciate Temptalia more and more as you revise your methods, are always consistent and fair, and on my computer monitor have the most accurate swatches.
In a word: The Internet! In pre internet days, there was no product research at all, just advertisments that emphasized the wild claims by various brands for their products and a very limited range of beauty products there were too.
Now my product research involves looking at Temptalia first and foremost for makeup exclusively.
For skincare, I do look at reviews from others to see if the ingredients are right for me.
Yes Christine! You make a huge difference! If you don’t rate it’s performance well I don’t buy it period, time and money saved! Thanks!
Thank you, Brenda!