The Price of Beauty

Are beauty labels lying to you? Misleading marketing of ingredient dosages are on the rise

A recent report by Viola Levy in Cosmetics Business reveals a troubling trend in beauty marketing: "marketing dosages." Many brands add only tiny amounts of popular ingredients like vitamin C, retinol, or niacinamide—just enough to list them on the label, but too little to actually work. While this practice is technically legal, it's misleading.

As a model, I've seen firsthand how appealing this kind of marketing can be. A phrase like "infused with retinol" sounds scientific and luxurious, but sometimes there's barely enough active ingredient to make any difference. The label promises results, but the formula can't deliver.

Levy shares a clear example: a "ginger shampoo" that fights dandruff not because of ginger, but because it contains zinc pyrithione. The ginger story sounds natural and appealing, but it's the science behind the scenes that does the real work. This gap between marketing and reality leaves consumers uninformed.

Regulators like the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) in the UK and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in the US require that ads be truthful and backed by evidence. However, there's a loophole: brands can mention an ingredient as long as it's in the formula—even in trace amounts—unless they make a specific claim about what it does.

This creates a gray area between truth and suggestion. According to the FTC's Endorsement Guides, if a model or influencer promotes a misleading claim, they can be held legally responsible along with the brand. That means every campaign I'm part of isn't just creative work—it carries legal weight. Now, before I agree to promote a product, I ask questions like: What percentage of the ingredient is included? Is there proof it works?

In practice, being transparent and doing my research has become part of my job. Beauty work today isn't just about appearance—it's also about understanding the rules.

This issue goes beyond ingredients—it raises questions about honesty in beauty marketing. When brands focus on "natural" stories while ignoring effective science-backed ingredients, they prioritize image over truth. This erodes consumer trust, and that distrust affects everyone in the industry, including influencers and models.

For me, the stakes are personal. My face is often used as proof that a product works. If that product's claims are exaggerated, it's my reputation that suffers, not just the brand's. Trust, once broken, is hard to rebuild.

But there's reason to be hopeful. Imagine if beauty packaging listed ingredient percentages the way food labels show nutrition facts. Imagine campaigns that made honesty feel aspirational. The future of beauty won't be defined by the next trendy ingredient—it will be built on making transparency desirable.

Are beauty labels lying to you? Misleading marketing of ingredient dosages are on the rise. (n.d.). https://cosmeticsbusiness.com/misleading-marketing-dosages-of-ingredients-in-beauty-products

Chandon, L. (2020b). Do Claims about the Naturalness and Dose of Cosmetics Ingredients Affect the Public’s Perception of Their Safety? J — Multidisciplinary Scientific Journal, 3(3), 299–312. https://doi.org/10.3390/j3030023