The Skinfluencer Economy: Why Good Advice Is Dying

You’re not undereducated. You’re over-marketed to.

The more followers someone has, the worse their skincare advice gets.

Not always. But often enough to be a pattern.

Because in the skinfluencer economy, reach ≠ results.

Reach equals revenue.

Fueled by engagement, conversions, and affiliate codes.

Nuance and honesty don’t trend anymore.

The advice that actually works doesn’t make for good content.

It’s too simple. Too boring. And too honest about the fact that for most people, we need less, not more.

Routines are designed for cameras, not skin.

Products are pushed for commission rates, not results.

The barrage of clashing advice you’re bombarded with daily exists for one reason: profit.

You’re not getting skincare advice. You’re getting a marketing strategy – wrapped in relatability, and posted for commission.

The 8-step miracle morning routine from your favorite creator – She’s not using it.

The “holy grail” serum that changed her life – probably sitting unopened in her PR closet for three months while she uses the same basic moisturizer she’s been loyal to for years.

What used to be education is now fast cash (your cash).

What used to be real advice is now ads in soft lighting with a huge side of affiliate links.

What used to help people now just sells to them and milks them dry.

It’s the most profitable system in an oversaturated market.

What the Skinfluencer Economy Actually Is

Quick zoom-out on the entire system:

1. Brands need attention – they’ll pay anyone with a following to get it
2. Influencers need income – and consistency and authenticity don’t pay rent
3. Algorithms need speed – slow, thoughtful advice gets buried under trending nonsense
4. Consumers need trust – and they’re desperately searching for it in all the wrong places

So what happens?

Everyone is optimizing for clicks. NOT accuracy – or actual skin results.

Hype wins. Nuance dies.

And everyone wins – except US, the consumers.

The truth gets buried under a #sponsored post.

And because the best skincare advice is usually boring, and everyone else is competing for views and clicks most influencers have resorted to stretching the truth (yes, I mean they’re outright lying).

How do I know? Because I watched influencers lie about our products in real time when I was managing a K-beauty brand.

The truth just isn’t profitable enough to go viral.

Because it tells you to:

• wait
• simplify
• track and to observe.

Not to “buy now” because it’s trending.

And unfortunately for the majority of beauty content consumers – waiting, simplifying, and tracking are usually the things that actually get you the results.

Most skinfluencers have likely lied to you at one point or the other.

Real skincare advice sounds like this: “Use sunscreen. Sleep more. Stop switching products every week.”

But that doesn’t fill a 60-second TikTok.

It doesn’t create urgency.

And it surely doesn’t drive traffic to affiliate links.

So instead, you get fear-based content about how you’re “aging yourself” if you don’t buy their latest recommendation or get the 15-step routine they swear by.

How the Game Works (Skinfluencers Don’t Use What They Sell)

I’d say about half of my readers don’t think about this (I didn’t either), but: being a skinfluencer is a job.

And rightfully so we don’t think about it. We’re consumers and we want fast, honest, and truthful information.

But, that’s getting harder and harder to get when the job isn’t to get results.

Well, results – but those on a brand’s P&L, not your face.

It’s a never-ending loop:

Create content → Hope it goes viral → Compete with other skinfluencers → Push ever more content → Try to stand out → Create more hype → Get better results → “aha moment” → Create ever more and more hype → Get more companies approaching you → Make more money.

All of these steps, yet zero focus on the consumer.

So what does that look like?

• Testing 10 new products a week
• Creating before-and-after shots with different lighting
• Trying viral challenges for reach
• Promoting five “must-haves” from five different brands – in the same month

Does this sound feasible for someone who’s striving to have good skin?

Is it possible skinfluencers are using every single brand PR given to them and still have good skin?

No.

Influencers are not patch-testing or emptying bottles → zero gauge if the product is actually good.

And they’re definitely not building sustainable routines.

Here’s how this might look like:

The Creator’s Real Routine:

• Gentle cleanser (same one for 2+ years)
• Basic moisturizer with SPF
• Maybe retinol 2-3 times a week
• Consistent sleep and hydration

The Creator’s Content Routine:

• 12 different serums layered for the camera
• “Life-changing” products that change every month
• Detailed explanations of ingredients they learned 5 minutes before filming
• Before/after photos with strategic lighting differences

They’ll film themselves applying a $80 vitamin C serum they’ve never actually used, while their skin looks great because of the routine they’ve been relying on for 3 years.

But the drugstore moisturizer doesn’t have an affiliate program. The $80 serum does.

Influencer Math

For the sake of simplicity let’s use an influencer with 1million followers and an average of 200,000 views per post.

The math is simple (and we’re being conservative with the numbers)

200,000 views × 0.3% conversion rate × $80 product × 8% commission = over $3800 per post.

If it’s a sponsored piece of content by the brand themself, then we’re looking at anywhere from $5,000 all the way to $15,000 for an influencer of that size.

(in reality it’s a bit more complicated, but this simple calc is a pretty safe baseline)

That’s more than most people make in months. From one post. About a product they don’t even use.

Their skin is their brand.

Your skin (unless you’re a skinfluencer reading this) isn’t.

Following product recommendations from 10 different skinfluencers trying out 20 different products at once is recipe for disaster.

The Expertise Illusion

The bigger someone’s following gets, the further they drift from actual expertise.

Small accounts (under 10k followers):

• Often share what actually works for them
• Limited PR means they buy most products themselves
• Lower stakes = still motivated by honesty about transparent about what doesn’t work

Medium accounts (50k-500k followers):

• PR packages start flooding in
• Beginning to optimize content for algorithm over accuracy
• Still some authenticity mixed with performance

Mega accounts (1M+ followers):

• Full-time content creation business
• PR overwhelm – hundreds of products monthly
• Can’t test everything they promote
• Optimization for engagement and conversion above all else
• Expertise becomes secondary to entertainment value

The moment you turn content into a job, integrity gets tested.

And with skinfluencers here’s how the entire game looks like:

• Pre-launch brand briefs: talking points are handed out before products are released.
• Content quotas: “3 Short-form cross-posts, 6 Stories, 1 longform YouTube video”
• Contractual positivity: creators are legally required to show the product in a good light. The company I worked for didn’t do that – but I’ve seen collab briefs from many big players in the industry.
• Review swaps & PR cliques: brands cross-promote with the same handful of creators.

Now add this:

• Affiliate codes
• Sponsored “holy grails”
• Endless product hauls labeled as “education”
• Performance metrics tied to sales, not honesty

And you’ve got a system where good advice gets buried, choked, and dies.

The system doesn’t reward honesty.

What you see might be labeled as “skin transparency.”

But what it really is, is scripted sales in aesthetic lighting.

The Algorithm Rewards Bad Advice

Here’s the brutal truth: good skincare advice is algorithm poison.

“Use what you have consistently” doesn’t get saves. “Most people need to do less, not more” doesn’t get shares. “Your skin is probably fine – using more crap can only f**k it up” doesn’t get comments.

On the opposite end of the specrum, here’s what does:

• “5 ingredients destroying your skin barrier!”
• “Why your routine isn’t working (and what to try instead)”
• “The $12 serum that changed my life”
• “Stop doing this or you’ll age faster”
• “If you haven’t been using retinol since you were 10, you’re missing out”

Fear, urgency, and false complexity are the main engagement drivers. Truth and simplicity aren’t.

So creators learn to manufacture problems that don’t exist, then sell solutions that create new problems, which require more solutions, which need more content.

It’s the perfect never-ending cycle designed to keep you consuming – both content and products.

All of this leads to more skinxiety and getting more stuck in the Triple C loop.

The Trust Erosion and Why Even Smart People Fall For It

People are more confused than ever.

When every creator has different “must-have” products, contradictory advice, and constantly changing recommendations, the message becomes clear:

Nobody actually knows what they’re talking about.

This leads to chaos. People stop trusting their own skin, believing in simple solutions, and start chasing whatever the algorithm serves them next.

The real cost isn’t just money wasted on useless products.

It’s the erosion of your ability to read (more like listen to) your own skin, trust your own instincts, and recognize that most skincare problems don’t need complex solutions.

People keep falling over and over for this because it feels honest.

Because the before-and-after shows change.

Because the creator says “this isn’t sponsored” right before dropping a code.

And most of all – because our brains are evolutionarily wired to default to truth.

Most of the time you’re not watching someone’s routine. You’re watching a business model.

Their business model. Designed to get money out of you in return for zero honest advice or things that actually get you results in return.

Skinfluencers will drop their actual routines from time to time – but not always.

And we’ll never know.

That’s how deep the manipulation runs.

Clarity is a threat to that model.

Because the moment you become confident in your own skin, you become a terrible customer.

And the moment you have full clarity that every skin, no matter how different or similar, has it’s own unique context – is when you do.

That’s what Save My Skincare is built for.

Not to sell you more steps or to turn your skin into a science experiment.

But to help you rebuild your routine with clear eyes, conscious decisions and a system that respects your skin context more than the algorithm does.

Well, the algorithm doesn’t – because it can’t possibly know your unique skin context.

You can check it out here.

What Good Advice Looks Like (And Why It’s So Rare)

If you’ve been paying attention, you now know that real advice doesn’t perform well online.

Real advice is repetitive, requires context, patient, anti-haul, often a ‘don’t’.

And it rarely changes.

It’s not made to entertain.

It’s made to stabilize.

That’s why it’s so rare in today’s online climate.

Shame, because real skincare advice is also the most practical. And likely the cheapest.

It sounds like:

• “Find a routine that works and stick with it”
• “Your skin barrier is more important than any active ingredient”
• “Consistency beats perfection”
• “Most people need to subtract, not add”
• “Your lifestyle affects your skin more than any product”

But you won’t find this advice trending on TikTok.

You won’t see it in sponsored posts.

And you definitely won’t get targeted ads for it.

Because there’s no affiliate link for “leave your skin alone.”

How to Protect Yourself From the Skinfluencer Trap

Before choosing if you trust (or “vibe”) with an influncer, ask the following:

1. Are they selling, or are they teaching?
2. Do they show long-term skin, or just one good week?
3. Do they ever say don’t buy something?
4. Are they consistent with their recs, or product-hopping?

If it feels like a commercial, it probably is.

You don’t need to cancel and unfollow influencers.

(well, maybe some of them you should – there’s some real a*holes in this industry)

But you need to stop treating them like experts.

A little note on Derms & estheticians: Credentials matter. Verify real board-certified derms; TikTok titles mean nothing.

You can do everything right, not listen to any hidden marketing online, but you absolute need to Start tracking your own skin. [skin-cycling vs. skin-listening post]

Final Reframe: If It Costs You Clarity, It’s Too Damn Expensive

The skinfluencer economy made skincare louder, shinier, and faster.

But it also made it harder to trust.

And the real cost isn’t just your wallet:

• It’s your confidence.
• It’s your consistency.
• And arguably most importantly – your peace.

If the advice costs you clarity, consistency, or confidence – it’s too f*cking expensive.

And if this post hit a nerve, imagine what an actual, context-heavy routine could do for your face.

Clarity That Pays Off

If you’re done with hype and want something built around your skin, not a brand deal:

Again, start with Save My Skincare – a done-for-you, personalized system designed to rebuild your skin.

I take on a very limited amount of clients a week. Intake opens every Tuesday 6am PST.

Slots generally fill in 48~72 hours nowadays under 48 hours.

No spam. No product push. Just strategy that works with your skin context in mind.