Insights · Beauty & Skincare
We read published skincare listings with one question in mind: could an AI shopping assistant confidently tell a buyer whether a product is right for them?
Description quality in skincare is a brand trait rather than a category law. Some brands name ingredients and suitability exceptionally well; others say very little. It is not safe to assume a category-wide pattern in either direction — which is the first thing worth saying about this category, because it means the gap below is not a story about weak brands.
One gap can survive at brands that do almost everything else right — and it is the one that matters most to the buyers who need it.
Fragrance status on leave-on products — serums, moisturisers, treatments — is easy to leave unsaid. It is usually on the pack, and it is not what the marketing copy is for. But a listing that never states it cannot answer the question, however carefully it names its actives or describes the skin concern it targets.
Fragrance is the single most common cosmetic allergen. For a general shopper, "is this fragrance-free?" is a nice-to-know. For a shopper with reactive, sensitive, or allergy-prone skin, it's the difference between a product they can trust and one they have no choice but to skip — and an AI assistant reading a listing that never mentions it can't answer that question either way, so it hedges or leaves the product out of its answer entirely.
There is a second gap of the same shape. Gift sets, duos, and travel or sample sizes are commonly created as catalogue entries rather than written as listings — sitting right next to full-size hero products described in careful detail. An AI assistant reading an empty description has nothing to recommend from, whatever is actually inside.
Why this happens
"Is this right for me?" isn't one question — it behaves differently depending on the buyer. For most shoppers, it's a soft preference: nice to confirm, not a dealbreaker if it's missing. For a pregnant, allergic, or reactive-skin shopper, the exact same missing information turns into a hard no — the product simply gets ruled out, or an AI assistant refuses to recommend it rather than risk it.
That's why this particular gap matters more than it looks. It isn't costing you the average sale. It's costing you the shoppers for whom the answer was always going to decide the purchase.
What to do about it
State fragrance status on every leave-on product — "fragrance-free" or "contains fragrance." It's usually already on the pack; it just isn't in the listing text.
Publish the full ingredient list as text, not just an image. An AI assistant can only reason about what it can read.
Say who each product is for — skin type and concern, in plain language ("for oily, acne-prone skin").
Name the key actives (e.g. "10% niacinamide") so a buyer — and an assistant — can match the product to a concern or a safety need.
Add a pregnancy or sensitivity note where relevant. It turns a hedge into a confident, specific answer for exactly the buyers who need one most.
Describe every bundle and kit as fully as your hero products. An empty description can't be recommended, whatever's inside it.
Squiggle reads your entire Shopify catalogue and shows you exactly which products can't answer the questions your buyers ask — and what to fix first.
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Squiggle's category guidance is informed by ongoing analysis of publicly available ecommerce product information. Illustrative examples explain common product-understanding principles and do not represent findings from any one merchant or the entire category. No individual store is named. This is guidance on product information, not cosmetic or medical advice — always follow the product's own labelling. Public catalogue data only — no account access, sales data, or private information was used.