Writing a good product review? Of course, that’s more than just dabbling in lipstick. I list 8 important points to pay attention to!
Writing a good product review
Blogging’ is a bit more than that, though. Writing a good product review that really benefits your readers is more time-consuming and sometimes harder than you think. Bloggers among my readers will agree, when you blog yourself, you suddenly start looking at products very differently than when you are ‘just a consumer’. There are now hundreds of reviews, articles about brands and products sent to me by PR agencies or web shops, but of course also products I buy myself. Basically, I only review things I think are worthwhile, because why should I invest time and energy in a product that I don’t really think is all that great?
What is a product review?
A review is sometimes described as a ‘critical appraisal’. Of course, you can write reviews about anything; about a restaurant, a book, a theatre performance, I myself naturally write very specific reviews about cosmetics. It is a piece with a combination of facts and opinions. Facts such as what the composition and price of a product is, where it can be bought, and of course your own opinion, about the smell for instance, whether you like it or not, and of course your final verdict. In that final verdict, you will weigh everything up; do you think the price-quality ratio is good, what could perhaps have been better, or different. Is the product worth its money, in your opinion? When I write a review, I keep in the back of my mind that you, the reader, don’t know the product yet. You may have seen it passing by online, but you have never held it in your hands. So I try to mention all aspects of a product.
Writing a good product review, what is your first impression?
Of course, you can already infer some things from the photos, but I always try to describe packaging to some extent as well. Is it a jar, a bottle, a tube? What kind of closure? Is it user-friendly, does it open and close easily? Do you have to use force to get product out or does the product just ‘flow’ out of the packaging very easily. Is the packaging heavy and therefore perhaps awkward to take on the road, or when taking a shower. Can you find everything on the packaging that you would like to know about the product? And of course I also have an opinion on packaging, I think it’s pretty or chic, or ‘plain’.
How does the product feel?
Texture, as far as I’m concerned very important when writing a good product review to say something about it. After all, a texture often says a lot about a product. But how do you describe a texture? Just some words that can describe a texture: firm, creamy, creamy, soft, lotion-like, watery, greasy, sticky. And further; how does that texture feel on your skin? Does the product absorb well, does it form a film, do you need a lot or just a little? Of course, it is also useful to mention what condition your skin is in at that moment. Because I write a lot of reviews myself, my readers know by now that my skin is dehydrated and sensitive. But when you only write the occasional review, that can be important information to mention. Also because you end up forming an opinion about a product. Example; if you have quite oily skin, you won’t be very happy with buttery or oily textures, for example. But if you only write ‘I don’t like the texture’, no one will know why you think that.
Writing a good product review, can you tell something about the fragrance?
I come across an awful lot of reviews saying: this cream has a nice smell, or ‘I don’t like the smell’. Full stop. But in fact, such an observation is of no use to anyone. Try describing the smell. Let’s take a body lotion as an example. It can smell different in the packaging than once applied to your skin. You then have a first impression of how the product smells in the packaging. What first comes to mind when you open the packaging? Nice? But why then? Is the smell sweet, fruity, fresh, floral, bitter? Perhaps you already smell something very specific, like roses or cinnamon. Does the scent strike you as ‘pure’, or rather ‘synthetic’ or maybe even ‘chemical’. And once applied to your skin, how does the fragrance smell? Always try to apply products you are going to review on clean skin, so that scents cannot get mixed up and you basically don’t know what you are actually smelling at all. Of course, it is slightly different when you are doing a review on a face cream, in which scent may be important, but not a main issue, than when you are writing a review on a perfume. In the latter, of course, the whole review revolves around the scent. What you could also mention is whether the scent stays with you for a long time. Again, take several factors into account; in general, fragrances stay on oily skin longer than on dry skin, and if you use products in combination with each other, for instance a shower gel, a matching body lotion and a perfume, it is logical that you will enjoy a fragrance longer.
Write a good product review, don’t forget the INCI list!
A lot of women nowadays find it very important to know what they put on their face and body, and rightly so. To do this, you can of course glance at the front of a package, which says ‘rich in shea butter’, for example. However, if you really want to know what the composition consists of, you will have to take a look at the list of ingredients, the INCI list; INCI stands for International Nomenclature Cosmetic Ingredient. This is sometimes found on the product’s outer box, sometimes on the product itself. Basically, you can say that the higher an ingredient is on the list, the more of it is included in the product. So if the manufacturer claims that its product is rich in ingredient A, but you see it at the very bottom of the INCI list, that claim is not justified. Reading ingredient lists can be quite difficult at first, especially as many ingredients are named differently. Whenever I come across something I don’t know yet, I grab my ‘Lexicon of cosmetic ingredients’. Naming ingredients may not be the most fun when you are writing a review, but take it from me, it really improves the quality of your review. I think it is part and parcel of writing a good product review. For example, some women are looking specifically for certain ingredients, or they want to avoid specific things.
Writing a good product review? Always write something about the ‘result’
Depending on what kind of review you are writing, your readers will undoubtedly want to know what you think of the product and of the result. Now, this is easier and quicker to say with some products than with others. For example, of an eye make-up remover, you know soon enough if it cleanses the way you want. When you start testing out a face line for blemished skin, you won’t see results within two days. I test out some products longer than others, and by now I know soon enough whether a product is for me and whether, for me at least, it is worth continuing to use it for longer. So you could mention in your review how long you are using or have used the product now. Did you see any results at all, and when did you start seeing them?
General information?
Facts, such as prices and availability, are also useful and important to mention. If you have made someone furiously curious, but then nowhere in your review does it say where you can buy the product, that can be quite a disappointment. Depending on how I get product, I place a link in my review, if it is a product I got from a specific webshop, for instance. Sometimes PR agencies ask to mention a particular shop or, on the contrary, link to a particular brand’s general site that lists outlets. Sometimes products are available in different formats, it can also make sense to mention this. Also when it comes to so-called limited editions, products that are only available for a certain period of time, for example, it is nice when you mention this.
Your final opinion?
Your final opinion about a product is formed by listing all the above points. Your final opinion is a very personal thing, and therefore depends on many factors. Your previous experiences with the brand or a similar product perhaps, your expectations of it, its user-friendliness. But also the experiences you have with a particular product. It could be that the fragrance is disappointing, but that the cream works intensively hydrating and your skin visibly improves. Of course, a review is about your opinion, but try to substantiate it. Price also plays an important role here; there are plenty of so-called budget blogs, where a nail polish more than five euros is already described as ‘expensive’. Now, of course, the price of a product is a given, but the important role that plays with this is; what do you have to pay for it? Do you think the product is worth its money because the result is so beautiful, or because it is a limited edition and therefore a kind of ‘collector’s item’, or is the product only composed of pure, natural ingredients, which makes you more likely to spend the money for it as well.
All in all, it has become a very long blog post, I am aware. It is just an overview of points I include in a review, some times I focus a bit more on one thing than another. I think the most important thing in a review is to back up your opinion, so that your readers know why you would or would not recommend a particular product or brand. My final tip; if you write a lot of reviews, it might be an idea to create a page or a section on your blog with things that characterise your skin, your skin type or the condition of your skin, which you can always easily refer to; for example, that you have very dry skin, or are sensitive to things like perfume or silicones.
