Can a Stranger Pick Your Beauty Products Better Than You?

Right Brain says…

This bit of science might make even a skeptic like Left Brain re-evaluate feelings about beauty product reviews. It turns out that psychologists have demonstrated strangers are more reliable predictors of what you’ll like than you are.

Science of Choice

Harvard researchers investigated women’s ability to predict how well they would enjoy a specific date. In one study, they gave some women typical online dating information like a picture & profile. Other women got no information except the opinion of a stranger who had already dated the person. It turns out, the women who got the stranger’s evaluation were better able to predict whether they would enjoy the date or not versus the one’s who got the picture & profile information.

According to the scientists,

“If you want to know how much you will enjoy an experience, you are better off knowing how much someone else enjoyed it than knowing anything about the experience itself,” says [Daniel] Gilbert. “Rather than closing our eyes and imagining the future, we should examine the experience of those who have been there.”

Beauty Reviews

So, how does this relate to beauty reviews? Well, if this research is applicable it suggests that rather than reading sales information & listening to advertisements about products, you’ll be much more satisfied if you listen to the advice of a beauty product reviewer.

Limitations

Of course, beauty product reviews have their limitations as we’ve previously discussed. But if you can find a beauty reviewer that you trust & who has similar hair, skin, or other needs as you, you’re going to be much better off if you reviewed their experience before making beauty product buying decisions.

The Beauty Brains bottom line

Although beauty reviews can sometimes be misleading, science shows that the opinion of people with experience can be a better predictor of whether you’ll like something than your own imagination.