The Guru Index collates reviews from the world's most trusted skincare experts: what they actually say about the products you're considering, in one searchable place.
Real opinions on beauty products are scattered across thousands of hours of YouTube videos. If you want to know whether a serum is worth it, you'd have to watch a dozen creators talk about it.
We do that watching for you, and organize the takes by product, brand, and reviewer.
We follow a curated set of independent beauty experts and go through what they say about specific products, so you don't have to sit through the videos.
Every take is weighed: how enthusiastic it is, how many gurus agree with it, and whether it was paid for.
It adds up to one Guru Score, with the raves, the pans and the splits all still there on the page.
A curated set of independent beauty creators with a track record of honest, detailed reviews.
What they've already said, publicly, about specific products and procedures: the raves, the pans, and the splits where experts disagree.
Every take is attributed to the creator who said it, with a link back to their channel.
Every product gets a single Guru Score, shown as a percentage from 0% to 100%. It's our read on how warmly the gurus actually talk about it, not a simple thumbs up or down. Five things shape it.
A glowing "this is my holy grail" counts for more than a lukewarm "it's fine, but it's pricey and only really works if you have dry skin." We read the actual words, so a positive review with real reservations scores lower than an all-out rave.
A product a dozen experts love is a safer bet than one two people liked, and the score reflects that. When only a handful of gurus have reviewed something, we keep its score closer to the middle until more experts confirm it, so a thinly-reviewed product can't shoot to the top on two opinions.
Sponsored reviews stay on the page, clearly labeled, but they count for half as much as an independent opinion. And a paid "best in category" can never earn a Top Pick: that badge is reserved for gurus speaking on their own dime.
When a guru explicitly crowns a product the best in its category ("the best vitamin C serum"), it earns a Top Pick badge and a boost to its score. The more experts who name it a winner, the bigger the lift.
When the experts are split, the score lands in the middle instead of hiding the disagreement behind a single number.
When the paid takes on a product outnumber the independent ones, we say so right next to the score. If there are too few independent takes left to form a real consensus, we hold the score back entirely and mark it "Not independently verified," rather than publish a number built mostly on sponsored reviews.
This is why you'll rarely see a perfect 100%. A score that high would mean near-universal, unreserved acclaim from many experts at once, which is exactly as rare as it sounds. Most genuinely loved products land in the high 80s and 90s, and the very best, most-celebrated ones sit at the top.
The index is only as trustworthy as the voices in it, so we add them slowly and on purpose. Before a creator's takes count toward any Guru Score, we look closely at their work against four bars.
Dermatologists, cosmetic chemists, doctors, estheticians, and reviewers with a deep, demonstrated command of formulas and ingredients. A big following alone doesn't qualify anyone. We read the work, not the subscriber count.
Gurus are creators speaking in their own name, on their own channel. We don't index brand channels or shopping feeds, and when a guru's individual video is sponsored, it's labeled and counts for less in the score.
Consistent output over time, with enough substantive product verdicts to be worth indexing. Every take we count was said publicly, in the guru's own words, and every quote on this site links back to the video it came from, so you can always check us.
Nobody can pay to become a Guru, and no brand can pay to have a creator added or removed. The roster is chosen by us, on editorial judgment alone.
We'd rather count a few dozen voices worth trusting than thousands that aren't. The roster grows when we find a creator who clears every bar, and not before. Know someone who does? Nominate a guru and we'll take a look.
The creators on this site don't work for us. They're not our reviewers, our employees, or our partners, and we don't ask them to review anything. We have no relationship with them. We simply collect opinions they've already shared publicly and collate them in one place so you can see what the experts think without watching hours of video.
"Guru" is a title we award, not a sign of any affiliation. When we've looked closely at a creator's work and judged that they carry real weight and expertise in this area, we recognise them as a Guru. Treat it as our read on their reputation and value as an expert (a reason their opinion is worth listening to) and nothing more. Being named a Guru doesn't mean the creator is connected to us, endorses us, or is aware of this site.
On guru cards you'll see two numbers: subscribers and devotees. Subscribers count everyone who ever hit the subscribe button, including people who clicked once, years ago, and never came back. Devotees are our estimate of how many people actually show up. It's based on the views a guru's videos typically draw, so it reflects the audience that genuinely tunes in.
That's why we think it's the more honest number. A guru with 100k subscribers and 140k devotees has an audience that hangs on their every upload; a channel with millions of subscribers and a fraction of that watching has mostly past glory.
Devotees show, far more accurately than subscribers, how many people are regularly following a guru's guidance. That is the influence we care about when we weigh whose voice carries in the index.
Look up a product, brand, or reviewer from the box at the top of any page.
See the consensus, and the disagreements, across every expert who weighed in.
Find the creators whose taste and priorities match your own.
Some shopping links may be affiliate links: if you buy through one, we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.
An affiliate link never changes which takes we show or how we present them. See our Sponsorship & Affiliate Policy for the full picture.
What the gurus praised, panned and argued about this week, in one short email.
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