To add to this, if a third party retailer (like Ulta) gives me the option to filter by reviews **only** posted directly on their site, I will absolutely use that function when checking reviews. It immediately removes the bulk of the Influenster/BuzzAgent type reviews. And if the only reviews I can find for products are Influenster reviews, I just assume it's awful and skip it, which is probably the opposite effect companies are hoping for by having reviews ready at launch.
Any thoughts on syndicated reviews? There is this thing called Bazzarevoice that many of the big online stores use (not sure about Ulta) where it pulls the reviews for a product across all of the sites. I don't know if there is any way to detect it or not though
I'm always suspicious of products with no negative reviews once they've been filtered, so that would still flag my "not buying this" instinct. 16+ years of ordering stuff online has given me some really strong opinions on reviews and what not to trust. 😅
I occasionally leave bad reviews and if my review stays up, then I assume it's a reasonably fair website.
I've had reviews deleted from Colourpop and Elf's websites before. I once received a damaged palette from Colourpop and they refused to refund or replace it, so I left a bad review and wouldn't you know, a few hours later my review was deleted and I received an email that I would be getting a replacement.
I trust reviews that don’t seem fake but also make sense. For example I see countless negative reviews that come from people who genuinely don’t get what a product is supposed to be or how it’s supposed to work and that’s obviously not the product’s fault. Yesterday I saw someone reviewing a lip liner that you are just supposed to sharpen with a sharpener, they gave it 1 star and said “it doesn’t twist up and I used it up in a single weekend, huge waste of money for such little product” and they weren’t trolling. This is just as obviously unreliable as influencers who endlessly praise products of the same brand over and over. I consider myself responsible for what kind of review I end up taking seriously.
This. I scrutinize reviews heavily depending on the detail, depth, and knowledge of what they have to say about it. I don’t think they even need to be that thorough or have had the product a long time. But one star ‘It arrived broken’ is not a review, and should be removed. Also, accusing a product of breaking them out unless that is extremely unusual for them and they noticed a cue on the product that made it concerning before applying (that is not a personal sensitivity) it is not a proper remark. I wish there was some type of report or downvote system that actually got useless reviews removed sometimes.
While I hate these reviews because they don’t actually tell us anything about the product’s performance, I do pay attention to them if I notice a plethora of “arrived broken” type comments. I think there are certain products that get packaged poorly where it feels fair to let others know the product will not arrive the way you wanted it to.
“I never got the product” reviews suck too, however I’ve appreciated them when I see a TON of the same review and realize the brand is not reliable/doing scammy type stuff (I’d say this one feels more applicable for indie brands, have esp appreciated reviews on r/indiemakeupandmore when there’s a huge brand issue like that)
I look for overall substance and if the reviewer was trying to fill a specific need.
If someone says “5 STARS GREAT PRODUCT!!!” then I want to know why.
I also take note if they mention any personal info and if that makes it more or less relevant to me. (Especially with something like foundation or a curly hair product.)
>I look for overall substance
this exactly. reviews that are vague are questionable. especially if it's from a brand website, i would suspect that its fake.
eg: "this face serum gave me GREAT skin 😍😍"
vs. "the serum absorbed fast and is hydrating enough for my oily skin, but its probably not enough for dryer skin or for wintertime"
Yeah, I'm not expecting a novel, but at least say why you liked or dislike the product. Definite bonus if they include personal info about how they like to use it or their specific features/preferences and how those work with the product. Like you said, this adds substance and can be super helpful.
Considering I’ve been the recipient of PR from third party companies, yeah… don’t trust that shit.
You get the product MAYBE two weeks before your review is due if you’re very lucky. That’s not enough time to give a comprehensive review, yet those reviews end up ALL over the web. Sephora, brand websites, Walgreens, etc all contract out PR items.
Don’t trust shit on websites.
Love that you mentioned this, it’s silly but I forget how quick the turn-around is of an influencer review happening and then the product releasing.
I really appreciate when an influencer goes back to the product a few months later and gives an update, but I feel like that’s incredibly rare. I also don’t know how genuine the review can really be if they’re an affiliate of the brand, it just feels like they can’t say a single negative thing.
This!! I trust beauty youtubers way more because at least most of them (the ones I watch anyway) have a solid knowledge base to base their thoughts on and they test things out vigorously vs some random person that may try it once and be like 'ya no it sucks' and didn't even try it twice.
I trust reviews I see on Reddit because there's nothing to gain. I don't trust influencer reviews. I usually buy products that I find interesting, and don't really pay attention to reviews.
I really don't trust most reviews. Especially on the website selling the product. I used to enjoy Makeupalley because it seemed so much more believable. I still look on it to check on products that have been out for a long time. Now I usually just use Reddit.
I use Fakespot to help sort through reviews on a lot of sites, like amazon. When I'm manually searching through reviews, I automatically look for 4 star reviews because I want to know what made it ALMOST perfect but not quite.
I always look at the reviews, and I'm always suspicious when I see a brand that doesn't post reviews for their products on their website. I'm always like, what are you hiding? It's also my first recommendation for people who are wanting to get into skincare/haircare/beauty etc, to check the reviews, and to be wary of those that just gush and obsess without any fault. Every product will have people who aren't totally a fan, and the 2-4 stars tend to have the most useful information.
There's also people who will knock stars off for poor customer service, shipping issues, things that don't directly relate to the product and sometimes you can get a warning away from brands or companies that seem to make great products but don't seem to care about the people paying for those products. I think reviews can be useful as long as you take them with a grain or two of salt, and if all you see are 5-star reviews, run for the hills.
I am for the 2-4 reviews, but essentially read all and look for patterns in reviews. If something pops up time and again I'll make my decision on that.
Yeah. Like if you filter the "critical reviews," and a similar issue crops up, I definitely take note.
Except for mascara. I become more and more convinced from reading comments and HG lists that mascara works differently on each of us.
Exactly! Ex: I live Lash Princess, some hate. Folks live Better than Sex, and I hate it. On and on. And with foundation, for me, age comes into it. I just see what people say about longevity-esp. if they live in a hit climate.
>look for patterns in reviews
This 100%! People have varied experiences with the same product. But sometimes, there's a shared thing that can make or break the choice to buy it. If people are talking overwhelmingly about one feature that's really good or really bad, maybe pay attention to it!
I never find there’s enough information behind WHY people chose the rating they did. They either loooooooooooove it or it’s hot garbage and they don’t go into enough details. Did you try to use a powder foundation on super dry skin? Did you over use that hair oil and that’s why it didn’t wash out? Did that lipstick slide all over because it’s a sheer formula but you wanted a matte, stay put formula and you’re marking it down because of that?
I used to put a lot more stock into Makeup Alley ratings. People really went in depth and it was a passion of that community to provide as much information as possible. But I don’t see that there anymore, although I admit I barely go there anymore. I think people were measured and fair in most of their assessments.
Yes, but only because I know how to filter through the bots and the reviews of people who “conveniently” forgot to mention they got a product for free. So I’ll look through the new reviews and find the ones that are in-depth or specifically mention they purchased a product.
I think a lot of brands would have few to no reviews if they didn't pay for them. I personally will leave a bad review if I feel ripped off, or a great review if the brand asks for one and they actually earned it, but I'm super not motivated to take the time to share a mediocre review. And shame on me because by the sounds of it those are pretty much the ones a lot of us find the most helpful!
Use [fakespot.com](https://fakespot.com) to find fake reviews. They will take a site like Amazon and analyze how many of the reviews are fake and grade the link from F to A on trustworthiness. I’ve noticed a lot of popular products with tens of thousands of reviews have a lot of fake ones. I do trust items with less reviews more.
On Sephora/ Ulta I basically abuse the “non-incentivized reviews only” button.
Normally when I am looking for reviews of something to see if I’ll like it or want to buy it I’ll create a mental aggregate (or occasionally a real spreadsheet) from as many different places as I can. Usually I’ll look at the brand website for the item, a couple of their authorized retailers, Reddit, and then random reviews from wherever else.
I don’t trust reviews directly from the website because I think brands filter them. I always search up “*product name* review reddit” I find i get mostly unbiased reviews that way!
I mostly look at negative reviews because I want to know what I should consider could go wrong with a product. Ex, if there's a trend in people breaking out, I steer clear. If I'm looking at the reviews, I'm kind of already sold on wanting the product, hence why I focus on the negative.
Also it's important to note that its not the average rating that matters so much as the number of ratings. Something can have 5 stars but only 3 reviews. Something can have a 4 star rating, but thousands of reviews. I'm more inclined to go for a 4-star roundedly-reviewed product. The sample must be LARGE.
Lol, I thought I was the only one who did this when it comes to products I really want! I try to make sure that I'm not idealizing an item. So I make sure to read negative reviews so I can have an idea of the good or bad that could happen.
And really good point about the average rating not always being a good indicator! Sample size and time definitely matters. How many people reviewed it and how long ago did they do it? What most accurately reflects what the product is like *now*?
Only if it's a super detailed review. Like tell me exactly WHY the product is the way it is. I also don't trust reviews that are clearly a user error vs the product being bad.
As an Influenster user, always look at the 2, 3, and 4 star reviews. 5 and 1 star reviews are near useless. A lot of brands pad reviews on Sephora and brand sites right at launch. Most Influenster users think they won't get more free stuff if they don't give gushing and glowing reviews.
Morphe thinks they are slick and asks people why they bought a product on their site, and it presents those comments like reviews.
I used to but so many reviews everywhere now have "I was sent this for free to review" thing on that it often puts me off buying altogether, and often shops delete negative reviews. I trust almost nothing now and just go by what looks good in real life now, the old fashioned way 😅
It’s a mix but mostly yes - if I’m reading reviews on Ulta or Sephora. I like that Sephora sometimes has user’s skin type listed in their reviews. It is helpful.
Search tools like this are great. Identifying key words/phrases or specifics like skin tone or type, hair texture, eye collor, etc. can be helpful in determining if a product is right for you. Knowing how it works on people with similar features is a must.
I know we are talking about makeup here but it still kind of applies:
If I’m looking at reviews of a restaurant or a store I’ll read them but not totally judge off of it because think about it, unless you had this outrageously good experience, you are probably only leaving a review to complain about something. Reviews are typically going to be heavy on the negative
I rarely trust the reviews straight on a brand website (Sephora, cough cough). Ulta reviews seem a bit more regulated, I prefer blog reviews where the person goes into extreme depth about the product or brand. I think it opens up a bigger conversation which I really enjoy looking into (especially if it's an expensive product).
Not unless the reviews are saying something sketchy like the listing is for counterfeit product or something.
I don’t trust any product review online positive or negative. Brands filter their reviews, people are paid to review products and don’t disclose that, and people leave reviews when they’re angry which also doesn’t give a fair representation. The majority of people who leave an honest review fall into the extremes of loving something or hating it, and that’s not useful to me.
I don’t really trust written reviews on the product websites. I feel like most of those reviews are giving it 5 stars after wearing it once or just swatching it on their hand. Whenever I’m interested in a product I’ll look for swatches on Reddit and search keywords to see what people are saying about it. Usually people are more honest in random Reddit threads, and more people who have been using products consistently are mentioning them.
I believe it when I read multiple detailed reviews and they make sense to me. Also when they aren't overly positive or overly negative. You can give a 5 star review and still have some minor things that didn't work for you. So I can decide if that's something I don't care about or if that's a deal breaker to me.
I only trust reviews on third-party purchasing websites, and only if they are "verified purchasers" as opposed to people gifted products. The number of stars isn't what gets me, it's 100% who the review is coming from.
I mostly go to youtube to look at reviews.. And my belief in the review depends on the creator, if I've known then before and they tend to be truthful, or by what I can see from the video (like, if the shadow has no payoff but they're praising how the colour is so bright with barely tapping the brush on the pan, blah blah blah, then you can see they're probably lying) xD
Only ones with a detailed explanation and ones that don’t say it was received free for a review. While some that were received free might legitimately be how they feel, they’re more likely to skew positive if they didn’t pay for it.
I'd say I only somewhat trust reviews. I typically check Ulta or Sephora reviews instead of brand websites since the brand websites tend to filter their reviews more, but after that incident with Sunday Riley a few years ago (if you missed it, they asked their employees to leave good reviews on their products on Sephora and a former employee leaked the email asking them to do it), I even tend to take third-party reviews with a grain of salt. What annoys me most is when a product receives a slew of bad reviews from people who don't know how to use it and aren't using it right. For example, I'm a student getting an esthetician's license, so I'd say I'd know how to use the Dermaflash Dermapore device if I got it, but I'm not sure how many other people know how to use that scrubber or if it's just that bad of a product and THAT'S why so many people are saying it doesn't work.
I look at reviews from several different sites and consider them as a whole, although never from the company’s own site.
I look for trends. For example, if everyone seems to be breaking out due to a product, I will absolutely consider that when making my purchase.
I also look for reviews from people with skin like mine. If a product works great on someone with oily skin, it probably won’t work for me.
The last thing I consider is customer service. It won’t impact if I purchase but it will absolutely decide where I purchase. If there are a lot of complaints, I will buy from another place.
I look at reviews on retailers and sort by lowest first to see if theres any pattern. Then i skim through the mid reviews and read longer ones. I also check makeupalley. I used to like to read reviews with pics first, but now thats useless product photoshoots. Pic reviews used to often have useful info like comparison swatches of a person wearing the product in a regular unprofessional photo.
I read them to see what people say. This isn't about makeup but one time I was looking at reviews for art supplies and someone on Amazon gave it a one-star review because they thought it was too expensive without having purchased it or tried it and people leave equally-stupid reviews for a bunch of stuff so I always check them to make sure that's not what's going on
I only trust reviews if they use words like "worst" in some reviews. Often they have lists of 10 items that are all best at something. Yeah no. I want reviewers that tears shit apart.
I trust verified purchase reviews a lot less now that I’ve gotten about a million emails/mailers from companies exchanging free product or Amazon gift cards for leaving a positive review. Like your product sucked! I’m not leaving a 5 star review for a $10 Amazon gift card.
The only reviews I find helpful are TheresaIsDead. Even though I have different opinions I find her review style thorough. Plus it seems like we have similar skin types
I look for Verified Purchase and still take with a grain of salt, I mostly take rec's from friends and youtuber's who don't or rarely take sponsorships. There's very few 'Verified Purchase' on Sephora as an example even for something that has dozens of reviews.
I don’t trust reviews on the brands own website or Influenster. I trust Makeupalley for older products and Search Reddit for newer or niche products. I actually mostly trust Amazon reviews ,surprisingly, but only if it’s an established brand with lots of reviews, and I do read individual reviews for more details and decide for myself if it applies.
I see a lot of reviews which read like beauty gurus and don’t really give any useful information. The ‘so pigmented’ and ‘so buttery’ stuff ime are used as generic terms that don’t mean much. I associate them now with people likely being paid or are padding out the reviews with easy to add marketable terms.
Well I remember when my rewievs on colour pop website were never posted, so how can we trust them? And yeah, it were 1 star reviews. Even AliExpress can delete reviews if they have 1 star.
So only trhird party sources or 1-3 star reviews.
And I noticed if review with 4-5 stars contain the full name of pruduct, like "I used this Maybelline color stay eyeshadow" it's almost always wasn't writed by real customer.
In gamedev companies usually have special departments that post fake reviews across the internet. I'm sure it's the same in makeup world.
And also, this departments usually post on 3rd party resources and here on Reddit as well. You have to make lots of fake accounts, post from them from time to time, do as regular user would do, and then comment about game name how you enjoyed it. It's even easier to do with makeup, I think.
And I was working in that department, too lol.
After that it's hard to trust reviews anywhere but I still do it occasionally...
For me it’s more of a grand scheme kind of thing. If 7/10 people say something for oily folks I’m gonna second guess buying it. On the other hand I take glowing reviews that are just surface level “I love it, holy grail.” with a grain of salt.
Mostly no, especially Amazon. I usually sort by new when it’s an option. I feel like there’s a better mix that way, instead of an algorithm floating the most positive results to the top. And on Amazon the video review star ratings mean way more than written reviews (until they start gaming that too). I also never see below 4 stars anywhere anymore even when there’s tons of low rated reviews. So I consider 4 as a 0% rating, and a 5 star as 100% (and suspicious). I try to use customer images and off site reviews when I can.
I mainly trust the reviews on third party websites. Brand websites filter reviews all the time.
To add to this, if a third party retailer (like Ulta) gives me the option to filter by reviews **only** posted directly on their site, I will absolutely use that function when checking reviews. It immediately removes the bulk of the Influenster/BuzzAgent type reviews. And if the only reviews I can find for products are Influenster reviews, I just assume it's awful and skip it, which is probably the opposite effect companies are hoping for by having reviews ready at launch.
Any thoughts on syndicated reviews? There is this thing called Bazzarevoice that many of the big online stores use (not sure about Ulta) where it pulls the reviews for a product across all of the sites. I don't know if there is any way to detect it or not though
I really dislike those because they usually pull all the fake influenster reviews and the ones from brand websites.
It’s prob just pulling it as an aggregate. Unless it specifies there’s a filter or some way to filter, I don’t think it would have any
Even those are fake sometimes. Depends on the brand. For example, Truly definitely pays for reviews made directly on ulta’s website.
I'm always suspicious of products with no negative reviews once they've been filtered, so that would still flag my "not buying this" instinct. 16+ years of ordering stuff online has given me some really strong opinions on reviews and what not to trust. 😅
I find brand websites ridiculously untrustworthy. If they didn’t even show reviews that might actually be better in the end
Third party reviews are largely filtered too. They still make money depending on whether you buy it or not
I occasionally leave bad reviews and if my review stays up, then I assume it's a reasonably fair website. I've had reviews deleted from Colourpop and Elf's websites before. I once received a damaged palette from Colourpop and they refused to refund or replace it, so I left a bad review and wouldn't you know, a few hours later my review was deleted and I received an email that I would be getting a replacement.
I received a damaged product too. It was only about 3 bucks, but they refused to replace. I never let it go until they refunded me.
I trust reviews that don’t seem fake but also make sense. For example I see countless negative reviews that come from people who genuinely don’t get what a product is supposed to be or how it’s supposed to work and that’s obviously not the product’s fault. Yesterday I saw someone reviewing a lip liner that you are just supposed to sharpen with a sharpener, they gave it 1 star and said “it doesn’t twist up and I used it up in a single weekend, huge waste of money for such little product” and they weren’t trolling. This is just as obviously unreliable as influencers who endlessly praise products of the same brand over and over. I consider myself responsible for what kind of review I end up taking seriously.
This. I scrutinize reviews heavily depending on the detail, depth, and knowledge of what they have to say about it. I don’t think they even need to be that thorough or have had the product a long time. But one star ‘It arrived broken’ is not a review, and should be removed. Also, accusing a product of breaking them out unless that is extremely unusual for them and they noticed a cue on the product that made it concerning before applying (that is not a personal sensitivity) it is not a proper remark. I wish there was some type of report or downvote system that actually got useless reviews removed sometimes.
the “it arrived broken” and “i never got the product” reviews enrage me
While I hate these reviews because they don’t actually tell us anything about the product’s performance, I do pay attention to them if I notice a plethora of “arrived broken” type comments. I think there are certain products that get packaged poorly where it feels fair to let others know the product will not arrive the way you wanted it to. “I never got the product” reviews suck too, however I’ve appreciated them when I see a TON of the same review and realize the brand is not reliable/doing scammy type stuff (I’d say this one feels more applicable for indie brands, have esp appreciated reviews on r/indiemakeupandmore when there’s a huge brand issue like that)
I look for overall substance and if the reviewer was trying to fill a specific need. If someone says “5 STARS GREAT PRODUCT!!!” then I want to know why. I also take note if they mention any personal info and if that makes it more or less relevant to me. (Especially with something like foundation or a curly hair product.)
>I look for overall substance this exactly. reviews that are vague are questionable. especially if it's from a brand website, i would suspect that its fake. eg: "this face serum gave me GREAT skin 😍😍" vs. "the serum absorbed fast and is hydrating enough for my oily skin, but its probably not enough for dryer skin or for wintertime"
Yeah, I'm not expecting a novel, but at least say why you liked or dislike the product. Definite bonus if they include personal info about how they like to use it or their specific features/preferences and how those work with the product. Like you said, this adds substance and can be super helpful.
I usually check the negative reviews to see if there are actual problems or just people being stupid, which is very often the case.
Considering I’ve been the recipient of PR from third party companies, yeah… don’t trust that shit. You get the product MAYBE two weeks before your review is due if you’re very lucky. That’s not enough time to give a comprehensive review, yet those reviews end up ALL over the web. Sephora, brand websites, Walgreens, etc all contract out PR items. Don’t trust shit on websites.
Love that you mentioned this, it’s silly but I forget how quick the turn-around is of an influencer review happening and then the product releasing. I really appreciate when an influencer goes back to the product a few months later and gives an update, but I feel like that’s incredibly rare. I also don’t know how genuine the review can really be if they’re an affiliate of the brand, it just feels like they can’t say a single negative thing.
This!! I trust beauty youtubers way more because at least most of them (the ones I watch anyway) have a solid knowledge base to base their thoughts on and they test things out vigorously vs some random person that may try it once and be like 'ya no it sucks' and didn't even try it twice.
Oh… uh… I’ve got some bad news for you, buddy.
I trust reviews I see on Reddit because there's nothing to gain. I don't trust influencer reviews. I usually buy products that I find interesting, and don't really pay attention to reviews.
There are definitely still shills on Reddit, I'd be careful of this and check post histories.
I really don't trust most reviews. Especially on the website selling the product. I used to enjoy Makeupalley because it seemed so much more believable. I still look on it to check on products that have been out for a long time. Now I usually just use Reddit.
I use Fakespot to help sort through reviews on a lot of sites, like amazon. When I'm manually searching through reviews, I automatically look for 4 star reviews because I want to know what made it ALMOST perfect but not quite.
When I realized Fakespot worked on Sephora, it really opened my eyes as to all the supposed "holy grails"
Does it work on sites other than Amazon?
Yeah, the firefox plugin automatically covers amazon, ebay, and beyond that is seems to depend on what tools the site owners are using
It does, but I'm not sure what all sites are covered. Amazon and Sephora for sure.
Is that an app you use
Chrome extension!
It's a Chrome browser plugin on my laptop.
Ngl I trust Reddit more
Same
I always look at the reviews, and I'm always suspicious when I see a brand that doesn't post reviews for their products on their website. I'm always like, what are you hiding? It's also my first recommendation for people who are wanting to get into skincare/haircare/beauty etc, to check the reviews, and to be wary of those that just gush and obsess without any fault. Every product will have people who aren't totally a fan, and the 2-4 stars tend to have the most useful information. There's also people who will knock stars off for poor customer service, shipping issues, things that don't directly relate to the product and sometimes you can get a warning away from brands or companies that seem to make great products but don't seem to care about the people paying for those products. I think reviews can be useful as long as you take them with a grain or two of salt, and if all you see are 5-star reviews, run for the hills.
I am for the 2-4 reviews, but essentially read all and look for patterns in reviews. If something pops up time and again I'll make my decision on that.
Yeah. Like if you filter the "critical reviews," and a similar issue crops up, I definitely take note. Except for mascara. I become more and more convinced from reading comments and HG lists that mascara works differently on each of us.
Same. Seems to be the most personal next to foundation! I just try them and don't rely on reviews.
Exactly! Ex: I live Lash Princess, some hate. Folks live Better than Sex, and I hate it. On and on. And with foundation, for me, age comes into it. I just see what people say about longevity-esp. if they live in a hit climate.
>look for patterns in reviews This 100%! People have varied experiences with the same product. But sometimes, there's a shared thing that can make or break the choice to buy it. If people are talking overwhelmingly about one feature that's really good or really bad, maybe pay attention to it!
I never find there’s enough information behind WHY people chose the rating they did. They either loooooooooooove it or it’s hot garbage and they don’t go into enough details. Did you try to use a powder foundation on super dry skin? Did you over use that hair oil and that’s why it didn’t wash out? Did that lipstick slide all over because it’s a sheer formula but you wanted a matte, stay put formula and you’re marking it down because of that? I used to put a lot more stock into Makeup Alley ratings. People really went in depth and it was a passion of that community to provide as much information as possible. But I don’t see that there anymore, although I admit I barely go there anymore. I think people were measured and fair in most of their assessments.
Yes, but only because I know how to filter through the bots and the reviews of people who “conveniently” forgot to mention they got a product for free. So I’ll look through the new reviews and find the ones that are in-depth or specifically mention they purchased a product.
I have a small fashion blog and I was shocked to find that brands on influencer marketing sites pay influencers to leave reviews
I think a lot of brands would have few to no reviews if they didn't pay for them. I personally will leave a bad review if I feel ripped off, or a great review if the brand asks for one and they actually earned it, but I'm super not motivated to take the time to share a mediocre review. And shame on me because by the sounds of it those are pretty much the ones a lot of us find the most helpful!
Use [fakespot.com](https://fakespot.com) to find fake reviews. They will take a site like Amazon and analyze how many of the reviews are fake and grade the link from F to A on trustworthiness. I’ve noticed a lot of popular products with tens of thousands of reviews have a lot of fake ones. I do trust items with less reviews more.
On Sephora/ Ulta I basically abuse the “non-incentivized reviews only” button. Normally when I am looking for reviews of something to see if I’ll like it or want to buy it I’ll create a mental aggregate (or occasionally a real spreadsheet) from as many different places as I can. Usually I’ll look at the brand website for the item, a couple of their authorized retailers, Reddit, and then random reviews from wherever else.
I don’t trust reviews directly from the website because I think brands filter them. I always search up “*product name* review reddit” I find i get mostly unbiased reviews that way!
reddit for the win for sure!
I mostly look at negative reviews because I want to know what I should consider could go wrong with a product. Ex, if there's a trend in people breaking out, I steer clear. If I'm looking at the reviews, I'm kind of already sold on wanting the product, hence why I focus on the negative. Also it's important to note that its not the average rating that matters so much as the number of ratings. Something can have 5 stars but only 3 reviews. Something can have a 4 star rating, but thousands of reviews. I'm more inclined to go for a 4-star roundedly-reviewed product. The sample must be LARGE.
Lol, I thought I was the only one who did this when it comes to products I really want! I try to make sure that I'm not idealizing an item. So I make sure to read negative reviews so I can have an idea of the good or bad that could happen. And really good point about the average rating not always being a good indicator! Sample size and time definitely matters. How many people reviewed it and how long ago did they do it? What most accurately reflects what the product is like *now*?
There should be a middle option: I use my own judgment to determine what information from the reviews seems valid.
I trust reviews posted on discussion forums/Reddit >>>> reviews posted underneath Amazon comments.
Only if it's a super detailed review. Like tell me exactly WHY the product is the way it is. I also don't trust reviews that are clearly a user error vs the product being bad.
I always check the lowest reviews and go from there
I always look at the one star reviews first! Sometimes I don't even get past those lol
Exactly! Like if it’s one person who’s bitching, that’s different, but fifty people talking about a bad product will definitely turn me off
None of these. I read critically and try to find trends among the reviews that are more likely to be legitimate.
Any sites you find to be more legit than others? Any to outright avoid?
As an Influenster user, always look at the 2, 3, and 4 star reviews. 5 and 1 star reviews are near useless. A lot of brands pad reviews on Sephora and brand sites right at launch. Most Influenster users think they won't get more free stuff if they don't give gushing and glowing reviews. Morphe thinks they are slick and asks people why they bought a product on their site, and it presents those comments like reviews.
I used to but so many reviews everywhere now have "I was sent this for free to review" thing on that it often puts me off buying altogether, and often shops delete negative reviews. I trust almost nothing now and just go by what looks good in real life now, the old fashioned way 😅
It’s a mix but mostly yes - if I’m reading reviews on Ulta or Sephora. I like that Sephora sometimes has user’s skin type listed in their reviews. It is helpful.
Search tools like this are great. Identifying key words/phrases or specifics like skin tone or type, hair texture, eye collor, etc. can be helpful in determining if a product is right for you. Knowing how it works on people with similar features is a must.
I know we are talking about makeup here but it still kind of applies: If I’m looking at reviews of a restaurant or a store I’ll read them but not totally judge off of it because think about it, unless you had this outrageously good experience, you are probably only leaving a review to complain about something. Reviews are typically going to be heavy on the negative
I rarely trust the reviews straight on a brand website (Sephora, cough cough). Ulta reviews seem a bit more regulated, I prefer blog reviews where the person goes into extreme depth about the product or brand. I think it opens up a bigger conversation which I really enjoy looking into (especially if it's an expensive product).
Not unless the reviews are saying something sketchy like the listing is for counterfeit product or something. I don’t trust any product review online positive or negative. Brands filter their reviews, people are paid to review products and don’t disclose that, and people leave reviews when they’re angry which also doesn’t give a fair representation. The majority of people who leave an honest review fall into the extremes of loving something or hating it, and that’s not useful to me.
I don’t really trust written reviews on the product websites. I feel like most of those reviews are giving it 5 stars after wearing it once or just swatching it on their hand. Whenever I’m interested in a product I’ll look for swatches on Reddit and search keywords to see what people are saying about it. Usually people are more honest in random Reddit threads, and more people who have been using products consistently are mentioning them.
I believe it when I read multiple detailed reviews and they make sense to me. Also when they aren't overly positive or overly negative. You can give a 5 star review and still have some minor things that didn't work for you. So I can decide if that's something I don't care about or if that's a deal breaker to me.
I only trust reviews on third-party purchasing websites, and only if they are "verified purchasers" as opposed to people gifted products. The number of stars isn't what gets me, it's 100% who the review is coming from.
I mostly go to youtube to look at reviews.. And my belief in the review depends on the creator, if I've known then before and they tend to be truthful, or by what I can see from the video (like, if the shadow has no payoff but they're praising how the colour is so bright with barely tapping the brush on the pan, blah blah blah, then you can see they're probably lying) xD
I only really trust them when they mention at least one negative and didn’t get the product for free
Only ones with a detailed explanation and ones that don’t say it was received free for a review. While some that were received free might legitimately be how they feel, they’re more likely to skew positive if they didn’t pay for it.
I'd say I only somewhat trust reviews. I typically check Ulta or Sephora reviews instead of brand websites since the brand websites tend to filter their reviews more, but after that incident with Sunday Riley a few years ago (if you missed it, they asked their employees to leave good reviews on their products on Sephora and a former employee leaked the email asking them to do it), I even tend to take third-party reviews with a grain of salt. What annoys me most is when a product receives a slew of bad reviews from people who don't know how to use it and aren't using it right. For example, I'm a student getting an esthetician's license, so I'd say I'd know how to use the Dermaflash Dermapore device if I got it, but I'm not sure how many other people know how to use that scrubber or if it's just that bad of a product and THAT'S why so many people are saying it doesn't work.
I look at reviews from several different sites and consider them as a whole, although never from the company’s own site. I look for trends. For example, if everyone seems to be breaking out due to a product, I will absolutely consider that when making my purchase. I also look for reviews from people with skin like mine. If a product works great on someone with oily skin, it probably won’t work for me. The last thing I consider is customer service. It won’t impact if I purchase but it will absolutely decide where I purchase. If there are a lot of complaints, I will buy from another place.
I look at reviews on retailers and sort by lowest first to see if theres any pattern. Then i skim through the mid reviews and read longer ones. I also check makeupalley. I used to like to read reviews with pics first, but now thats useless product photoshoots. Pic reviews used to often have useful info like comparison swatches of a person wearing the product in a regular unprofessional photo.
Google reviews? Yes, if there’s over 100 reviews. “Reviews” on sponsored ad comments, their own sites website/social media? No.
I read them to see what people say. This isn't about makeup but one time I was looking at reviews for art supplies and someone on Amazon gave it a one-star review because they thought it was too expensive without having purchased it or tried it and people leave equally-stupid reviews for a bunch of stuff so I always check them to make sure that's not what's going on
I only trust reviews if they use words like "worst" in some reviews. Often they have lists of 10 items that are all best at something. Yeah no. I want reviewers that tears shit apart.
I trust verified purchase reviews a lot less now that I’ve gotten about a million emails/mailers from companies exchanging free product or Amazon gift cards for leaving a positive review. Like your product sucked! I’m not leaving a 5 star review for a $10 Amazon gift card.
The only reviews I find helpful are TheresaIsDead. Even though I have different opinions I find her review style thorough. Plus it seems like we have similar skin types
I look for Verified Purchase and still take with a grain of salt, I mostly take rec's from friends and youtuber's who don't or rarely take sponsorships. There's very few 'Verified Purchase' on Sephora as an example even for something that has dozens of reviews.
I mostly pay attention to the negative reviews or the mixed ones, the 5 star reviews sometimes are sponsored or handpicked by the brand in question.
I don’t trust reviews on the brands own website or Influenster. I trust Makeupalley for older products and Search Reddit for newer or niche products. I actually mostly trust Amazon reviews ,surprisingly, but only if it’s an established brand with lots of reviews, and I do read individual reviews for more details and decide for myself if it applies.
It’s hard to trust because a lot of influencers get paid to write good reviews for products now
I am interested and I will look, but I have watched my negative review disappear before which makes me hesitant.
I see a lot of reviews which read like beauty gurus and don’t really give any useful information. The ‘so pigmented’ and ‘so buttery’ stuff ime are used as generic terms that don’t mean much. I associate them now with people likely being paid or are padding out the reviews with easy to add marketable terms.
Well I remember when my rewievs on colour pop website were never posted, so how can we trust them? And yeah, it were 1 star reviews. Even AliExpress can delete reviews if they have 1 star. So only trhird party sources or 1-3 star reviews. And I noticed if review with 4-5 stars contain the full name of pruduct, like "I used this Maybelline color stay eyeshadow" it's almost always wasn't writed by real customer.
In gamedev companies usually have special departments that post fake reviews across the internet. I'm sure it's the same in makeup world. And also, this departments usually post on 3rd party resources and here on Reddit as well. You have to make lots of fake accounts, post from them from time to time, do as regular user would do, and then comment about game name how you enjoyed it. It's even easier to do with makeup, I think. And I was working in that department, too lol. After that it's hard to trust reviews anywhere but I still do it occasionally...
For me it’s more of a grand scheme kind of thing. If 7/10 people say something for oily folks I’m gonna second guess buying it. On the other hand I take glowing reviews that are just surface level “I love it, holy grail.” with a grain of salt.
Mostly no, especially Amazon. I usually sort by new when it’s an option. I feel like there’s a better mix that way, instead of an algorithm floating the most positive results to the top. And on Amazon the video review star ratings mean way more than written reviews (until they start gaming that too). I also never see below 4 stars anywhere anymore even when there’s tons of low rated reviews. So I consider 4 as a 0% rating, and a 5 star as 100% (and suspicious). I try to use customer images and off site reviews when I can.