“Everyone’s an influencer these days.” I’ve heard it a hundred times, including directed at myself since I started a humble content-creation journey over the last year. (Let me live!) But while lots of us casually prop up our front-facing cameras to film hot takes that maybe 30 people will actually watch all the way through, beauty product recommendations that actually click and convert are still professional influencer territory, right?
Yes and no.
When Allure analyzed responses from more than 142,000 readers who participated in a survey conducted alongside the 2026 Readers’ Choice Awards, we learned a lot. For example, readers who are most concerned about aging skin outnumber those who are most concerned about acne by more than double, and nearly a quarter of you are partaking in neuromodulators these days. But one finding stood out: Customer reviews appeared to hold slightly more sway over beauty purchases than influencers did.
Many of you are influenced by… well… influencers: A sturdy 41% of people surveyed said video reviews from influencers and celebrities are a factor in your decision-making when you’re buying a beauty product online. But what really surprised Allure editors is not that so many of you let content creators shape your shopping. It’s that regular customer reviews and comments—what you’d find at the bottom of a Sephora product page and have probably written a few of yourself—seem to have a slightly stronger influence than videos, with 42 percent of respondents naming them as a factor in purchasing decisions. (That’s up three points from last year’s survey.)
It’s not that the age of the influencer is over. It’s just that, for a lot of beauty shoppers, the content creator and the everyday opinion are working in tandem: The majority of people lurking in the reviews section said they’re also watching creator videos, and vice versa.
No one needs to tell you that social platforms have become saturated with paid partnerships featuring familiar faces. And while you may not mind seeing a few ads and even find your interest sparked by them, most people understand that even reviews not marked as #sponsored might have been the result of an incentive, like a free product. The creators who maintain strong trust with their audiences are also known to receive artfully packaged mailers for meticulously marketed launches, so perceived credibility is inevitably skewed.
The result of this ad ennui seems to be shoppers placing more trust in their fellow consumers. True, non-incentivized customer reviews are lower-stakes, typically with no motivation to please a brand. A shopper describing how a blush faded after an hour or how a mousse really defined their curls is doing so because they were just that annoyed or impressed.
Content creators have become scouts, and customer reviews serve as fact-checkers. Influencers establish awareness and offer some product education, but it’s customer reviews that inspire the confidence to click “add to cart.”
