Current status

This site currently carries no advertising, no sponsorship, and no affiliate links, and it earns no revenue. Nothing on the site has been paid for by anyone.

Display advertising is planned. This policy is published in advance so the rules exist before the money does — a policy written after the first advertiser arrives is worth much less.

The core commitment

The only asset this publication has is credible independent judgement. Every rule below follows from protecting it. If a revenue stream cannot be made compatible with these rules, we do not take it.

Revenue we would accept

  • Clearly labelled display advertising, sold independently of editorial decisions.
  • Newsletter sponsorship with fixed visual separation and a standard disclosure.
  • Sponsored events, webinars, or audio segments, labelled as such.
  • Underwriting for public-interest reference projects, with the funder disclosed and no pre-publication control.
  • Paid professional access to enhanced research tools or data exports, while the public reference content stays genuinely useful for free.
  • Syndication or licensing of our original research and taxonomy.
  • Reader membership or voluntary support — tied to access or community features, never to preferential scientific conclusions.

What we will not do

  • No product sales. We do not and will not sell skincare.
  • No paid inclusion or paid rankings. No advertiser can buy a mention, a place in a comparison, or a better verdict.
  • No sponsor preview, approval, or veto. Advertisers do not see editorial content before publication and cannot request changes to it.
  • No guaranteed coverage. Buying advertising creates no expectation of being written about, favourably or at all.
  • No disguised advertising. Sponsored material uses a distinct template and a persistent label. Sponsor creative will never be styled to resemble an independent evidence assessment.
  • No pulling coverage under commercial pressure. Losing an advertiser is an acceptable cost of an accurate piece. If a brand withdraws spending over our coverage, we will say so.
  • No selling reader data. See the privacy policy.

Affiliate links

We do not use affiliate links. If that ever changes it would require a separate, published policy, prominent per-link disclosure, and an absolute rule that commission cannot influence whether a product is mentioned or how it is assessed. The cleaner choice while building a reputation is to avoid them entirely, and that is the current intention.

Separation and labelling

When advertising launches, it will follow these rules:

  • Every ad slot is visibly marked as advertising, in plain language, before a reader could mistake it for editorial.
  • Ad units are visually distinct from article content — not matched to our typography and layout to blend in.
  • Sponsored content carries its label at the top, where it is seen before reading, and the sponsor is named.
  • Whoever sells advertising has no say in editorial decisions, and no editorial decision is shared with them in advance.
  • Advertising performance is never a criterion in choosing what to cover.

Advertising we would decline

  • Anything making medical claims for a cosmetic product.
  • Products marketed as treating, curing, or preventing a disease.
  • Injectable, prescription, or research-chemical peptides sold direct to consumers.
  • Creative designed to imitate editorial content, evidence ratings, or our confidence scale.
  • Advertisers requiring approval over adjacent editorial content as a condition of buying.

Conflicts of interest

Nobody involved in this publication currently holds a financial interest in any skincare brand, ingredient supplier, or retailer. Should that change, it will be disclosed here and on any page where it is relevant. Free samples, press trips, and gifts are not accepted; where an unsolicited sample is used for a piece, it will be stated in that piece.

Enquiries

Advertising enquiries can reach us by replying to any newsletter issue. A media kit and a dedicated address will be published here before any advertising goes live.

If you believe something on this site reads as paid placement, tell us. Being wrong about that publicly matters more to us than the revenue would.