How to Actually Trust Beauty Awards
(And which ones are worth your time)
Hello, Gorgeous!
A couple of weeks ago Good Housekeeping dropped their 2025 Beauty Awards, and every time I see another Best Beauty Products of 2025 list pop up, I can't help but think about both Consumer Reports and Kirkus Reviews.
Consumer Reports accepts no advertising, buys all products anonymously for testing, and regularly publishes reviews that make companies furious. Kirkus Reviews used to have that same fearsome reputation in publishing - until they launched their paid review service and everything changed.
Contrast that with the beauty industry's award culture, and the difference is stark.
The pay-to-play dilemma
What a majority of consumers don't realize about the Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval is that brands pay for the testing and certification process.
While Good Housekeeping claims their Beauty Lab conducts rigorous testing (and they do test products), the financial relationship between the magazine and the brands feels murky. When a company is paying for evaluation, how brutal can that evaluation really be?
Even Kirkus Reviews - once feared by publishers for their brutal honesty - now offers paid reviews through their Indie program, and authors report paying $400-575 for reviews that frequently seem like the reviewer didn't read finish the book.
The cult brand illusion
Speaking of manufactured authority, the Rhode Beauty sale to e.l.f. for $1 billion this week is a perfect case study. Here's a celebrity beauty brand with exactly 10 products in its entire line — a deliberately limited niche —that just commanded a billion-dollar valuation. The brand hired JPMorgan Chase to oversee the sale just two months ago, and now suddenly it's worth more than many heritage beauty companies with decades of R&D and global distribution.
Don't get me wrong - Rhode makes decent enough products, as good as any line created to be hyped and sold, and Hailey Bieber has genuine influence in certain circles.
At its heart, this is celebrity beauty branding 101:
Create scarcity
Generate massive social media buzz
Cash out at peak hype
It's a well-executed playbook, not some revolutionary beauty breakthrough.
I almost feel sorry for Kylie J's partial sale to Coty. That deal was a measly $600 million compared to that cool billion. And then she faced an ugly shareholder lawsuit when Forbes questioned whether her revenue numbers were inflated. Ah. Influencer claims; that’s an entirely different level of murkiness.
Incidentally, I also won't comment on the Kylie lawsuit because Coty (a sometimes client) approached me about being an expert witness - I turned it down. I can't fully comment on the Rhode sale because I have firsthand experience with some of the parties involved. Let's just say I seriously question their business practices. It's also a perfect example of elevation by association - e.l.f. went from essentially a dollar store beauty brand to owning premium formulations and reputations overnight.
What real credibility looks like
Back to the beauty awards and rave reviews.
Independent testing exists, but it's rare. Just for fun, pay attention to publications or organizations that publish negative reviews alongside positive ones and risk alienating even their biggest advertisers. Check if they have a track record of brands actually being upset with their coverage. Real credibility comes from the willingness to disappoint advertisers when science doesn't support claims.
I learned this lesson myself years ago. I used to only write about products I absolutely loved - not because I was being paid, but because the internet is clogged enough with negativity, and I didn't want to add to that pile-on. Plus, like my readers, I'm genuinely curious about cult products and what makes them special.
But I realized that approach might make readers wonder if I was cherry-picking positive experiences. Now when I rave about something, I also include the caveats - what didn't work, who it's not right for, my honest findings after extended use. It's messier than a simple best of list, but it's real.
Trust isn't built through press releases and paid placements. It's earned over time, through honest conversations and consistent expertise. You deserve nothing less than complete transparency about what works, what doesn't, and why. And let’s face it, in a world of AI generated automated copy, we’re all looking for authenticity if not actual truth in the claims.
Do you believe beauty lists or do you question inflated sales? Let’s meet in the comment section to discuss.
Rachel, Your beauty concierge 💋
I can't seem to respond to your brilliant comment, Debbie, so I'll try to post here and hope it goes through.
First off, thanks for your very kind words. I really appreciate it!
I had a client who was constantly buying awards. It was a great company, but at a certain point it started being so smarmy!
I don't think I knew that about ATK, but their overall presentation does feel so authentic. It makes sense. I will accept PR samples but with no guarantees of coverage, much less positive coverage. And I'm incredibly careful about partnerships or sponsorships. I also buy a ton (way too much) and overall will mention interesting products or ones I think my readers will enjoy. And yes, yes, yes, to an erosion of ethics and trust. One of the things I'm most proud of is the trust I share with my readers!
"This is such a good piece. Awards and "best of" lists have gotten to be meaningless in many ways. It's not just beauty; some many industry has gotten on the awards bandwagon as a way to manufacture credibility and boost advertising. Brands love to get awards so they can tout "authenticity." It's really incestuous. In addition to Consumer Reports, America's Test Kitchen also buys all of their products as well.
There's also a lack of ethics behind this, which eventually leads to a lack of trust."
As a PR, I have a very mixed view of awards. I don't think all awards are made equal and some publications are more thorough in their processes than others...but always take the big brand names winners year after year with a grain of salt. This is when real consumer reviews and actual clinical studies come into play!