Datamonitor, data and analysis experts, have reported that skin care consumers are failing to engage with the plethora of skin care products. That’s really not a surprise, but thank god someone has said it out loud. I’m not sure how anyone is supposed to pick out a skin care product when the choice is quite literally overwhelming.
Blogs have a huge part to play in helping consumers pick the wheat from the chaff but, as a beauty writer where it is my job to examine and assess new products, I get tied in knots about what is what. There are so many new skin care products that it is a never ending process – it is impossible to try everything, impossible to even assess everything and many are so similar that there really is no discernable merit between one and another. How any brand can bring out yet another bland bottled, scienticifally *proven* tube of anything is beyond me. And it is because so many do that we are in this situation. If brands stopped channelling god knows how many man hours into producing products that nobody understands, nobody can really tell if they really make any difference and nobody but the brands actually care about then we’d all be in a better place.
Datamonitor also confirm that claims made by skin care brands and products aren’t being heard.. we are simply fatigued by the latest and greatest stats, figures and complicated formluae. Mostly, new products get lost in the noise, so instead of heading off to make something even more super-technical, even more luxurious or even more *essential* how about listening to the message that the volume needs turning right down.
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7 comments
I stick with what works – for me, that’s Perricone MD!
What you all need to hire is a statistician.
We once had a lecture about how companies use numbers WRONGLY, so ‘prove’ something, that is in fact statistically insignificant and therefore does not hold true.
The example that our lecturer (who in fact is very important in the field of public health) gave us was about the garnier anti-fatigue or whatever it was eye roll-on gel. He picked it apart to show us that it was absolute nonsense, and even it’s claim to be recommended by the dermatologist association or whatever it was (I forget the exact claim, it was about 3 years ago), with a little investigation it turned out Garnier is one of the biggest sponsors of that dermatologist association, therefore that was probably untrue too.
Very interesting read!
I agree. Part of the reason that I have tuned out is that I have been so disappointed with products in the past and now view most skincare companies as no better than snake oil salesmen. Also the information I want about the product just isn’t available on company websites eg ingredient lists.
I am more likely to buy if there is consensus on a blog about a product or if I trust the blogger. I also have a weakness for QVC because they explain the product clearly and I can send it back if it’s not right for me.
Well said. I also agree with other commenters that if ingredient lists were more readily available, I’d be more inclined to buy something. I like to know what I’m putting on my skin or in my hair.
Agreed and it’s a complicated kind of argument. As a brand (Jonathan Ward London) we receive pressure via our public relations team to come up with new items almost before the “new collection” has been fully promoted. One magazine has been quoted to say to us “we know his collection, we only want to see new items”. Which translates to it doesn’t matter if an existing product is right for the story if it’s not new it won’t get coverage. The pressure as a brand is definitely upon us if we want to stay fresh. I like to think I don’t rush products out there to please anyone other than my own product development plan to be honest, which compared to skin care brands is incredibly slow.
Your post is spot on Jane, if the latest miracle cream is really going to turn back time and fix life’s problems, then why are we looking at a new miracle fix 5 months later. Didn’t the first miracle work after all ?
I love the fact you’ve brought this up! I find so many skincare adverts frustrating due to the ridiculous claims (there are a few out at the moment that are basically saying they cause cancer – you want to change my DNA too make my cells multiply faster???)
Boots seem to have taken this on board with their new paired down ‘Beautiful Skin’ range, but I always loved Eve Lom for just recommending 2 products and keeping it simple.